
GILBeRT H.JONeS 




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Class 0_2_S^ 

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COPYRIGHT DEFOSm 



EDUCATION IN THEORY 
AND PRACTICE 



BY 
GILBERT H. JONES, A.M., Ph.D. (Jena) 

Professor of Psychology and Education , 
Wilherforce University 




BOSTON 

RICHARD G. BADGER 

THE GORHAM PRESS 



Copyright, 1919, by Richard G. Badger 



All Rights Reserved 



ut>^° 



^.1 



Made in the United States of America 



The Gorham Press, Boston, U.S.A. 

(0)CI.A530 08 8 



THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 
TO 

MY BELOVED FATHER 

WHOSE LOVE OF TRUTH, AND 
UNREMITTING SEARCH FOR 
IT. FIRST INSPIRED MY YOUNG 
LIFE AND LED ME TO LOVE 
STUDY 



FOREWORD 

Books on the subject of Education abound. And because 
of the relative as well as actual value of the subject whose 
principles they attempt to expound it is necessary that they 
abound. It is only by having access to the various view 
points as advanced by the various authors in their texts 
that anything like a full understanding of the subject is to 
be gained. Again students of the subject of education come 
from every walk of life and prepare themselves for the work 
in varying degrees. While the author is not ready to assert 
that the field of education has more unprepared or partially 
prepared workers in it than other vocations, he knows it to 
be a fact that it has its full as well as relatively large quota 
of unprepared or partially prepared workers. For this 
reason books that would do the most good must be in thought, 
language, scope and manner of treatment so simple as to be 
easily within the reach of the less mature and more uniniti- 
ated of the group. Because of the slight acquaintance of 
these young students and workers with the nature and scope 
of the problems of this their basic science, in a treatise of 
this kind which is intended to be primary in the sense of in- 
troductory, it has been deemed both unnecessary and unwise 
to give many specific citations and quotations. Especially 
is this plan desirable since the text does not attempt to be 
argumentative or analytical but particularly descriptive and 
explanator3\ It is the aim and hope of the author that this 
little effort to open the field of Education to the beginning 
and young student will be helpful to him in his struggle to 
solve the simpler problems of education. In particular does 
he desire that both the principles discussed and the state- 
ments made shall prove to be enlightening in themselves, and 
which is to him more important that they shall serve to in- 
spire him and create within him a desire for a more advanced, 
complete and fundamental study of the subject of education 

5 



6 Foreword 

which is by its nature in scope and relationship one of the 
grandest and most serviceable fields of human endeavor. 

The Author wishes to thank at this time his associates in 
Educational work for their kindly suggestion and liberal crit- 
icism of the manuscripts. Prof. Youngblood and the as- 
sistants in the English Department, Prof. Henderson of 
the Normal Department, and the students of that depart- 
ment who by their work and cooperative study contributed 
so much to the solutions of various of the problems of educa- 
tion. 

Instead of giving many quotations and citations, for rea- 
sons given above there have been given only a few chapters 
for collateral reading at the end of each chapter and a gen- 
eral and more extended bibliography at the end of the book. 
This it is agreed is more in keeping with the aim and scope 
of the work, by the reading of which the student will gain 
a larger insight into the content of the field and be better 
prepared later to take up a more extended and more thorough 
as well as more systematic study of the problems of educa- 
tion. 

Wilberforce, Ohio, 
August, 1918. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I The Definition, Nature, Scope and Relation- 
ship OF Education 11 

II The Nature and Aim of Education .... 30 
The Nature and Application of Education . 42 
Education as Related to Governmental Insti- 
tutions 51 

III Kinds of Education 55 

IV The Agencies in Education 80 

V The School 101 

Its Location, Environment, Equipment, Heat- 
ing, Lighting, Sanitation, Etc 101 

VI The Schoolroom 125 

Its Supervision and Control 125 

VII Discipline 149 

VIII Punishments in the School 171 

IX Incentives and Stimulants in Education . . . 198 

X Routine and Accessory Duties of the Teacher . 223 

I Routine Duties 223 

II Accessory Duties 235 

XI Instruments of Progress in the Schoolroom . . 248 

The Courses of Study and the Daily Program 248 

XII Accessories of the Recitation 272 

XIII The Hearing of the Recitation 295 

XIV Psychologic Processes in Education .... 818 

XV Subsidiary Phases of Education 341 

XVI Play, Playgrounds, Athletics 367 

Bibliography 389 

Index 393 



EDUCATION IN THEORY AND 
PRACTICE 



CHAPTER I 

THE DEFINITION, NATURE, SCOPE AND 
RELATIONSHIP OF EDUCATION 

The Nature of a Deftnition. A formal definition of educa- 
tion that will be acceptable to all or even to a majority of 
students of a given subject is hardly possible. Yet definitions 
of every subject abound. But not only do definitions abound, 
but there is something of the true nature of the subject to be 
found in each and every attempt at defining it. This is true 
also of education. A definition aims to mark out and clearly 
define conceptions of a given subject, individual definitions 
intending to represent more nearly individual conceptions. 
The nearer the individual concept approaches the general 
concept, the nearer will the individual definition be generally 
accepted and become the more generally used. The in- 
dividual conception being made up in a way of the total 
experience of the individual is different for each and every 
member of the human species. Many definitions seemed to 
be opposed in the ideas which they convey and some even 
contradictory, yet they all have the same end in view. The 
cause of this variety is not difficult to find, nor is it to be 
deemed a fault or disadvantage but rather an advantage to 
the truly zealous student. It is traceable to the varied view 
points of the diff'erent authors. They are all looking at the 
same object from diff'erent view points, with minds of various 
degrees of power, variously cultivated and directed by moral 
and ph^'sical natures, which are themselves susceptible to the 
control of various interests. The description of the object 

11 



12 Education in Theory and Practice 

which these definitions give us is without a doubt sincerely 
and honestly given even though they may seem to be widely 
divergent. Technically speaking, then, a true, all-compre- 
hensive definition is practically impossible with us. A near 
approach to it is obtained by unbiasedly selecting from the 
whole group of given concepts, as found in definitions, that 
which is essentially true from the different view points and 
combining it into a harmonious whole, unified and consistent 
with itself. 

What view point an author takes and consequently what 
he ultimately sees in a given subject is determined chiefly 
by what he wills to see in it, i.e. his purpose in desiring a defi- 
nition and the use to which he intends to put that definition 
when known. For it goes without saying that no human 
mind is so broad in its grasp, so well balanced in and un- 
yielding to the element of personal bias as to be able to form 
what to all others would be accepted as a perfect, or in many 
cases even as a satisfactory definition. The fact is, the mo- 
ment you read an author's definition you can quite clearly 
tell the nature of his conception, the trend of his thought and 
those things in the given subject which he values and those 
things to which in his treatise he will give the most promi- 
nence. 

The Definition of Education. Some definitions describe 
education as a process whether it be continuous throughout 
life as regarded by some, or as continuous only throughout 
the school career as such, as regarded by others. Still 
others limit their definitions of it to the purpose or end of 
the process as restricted in its application to the individual 
whether he is conscious of the purpose or end of this process 
or not. Some again make their definitions practical or 
utilitarian, while others still would define education in regard 
to its capacity for fitting the individual for a life with and 
among his fellows. Another class having the child rather 
than the matured individual in mind would shape their defini- 
tions to him, his particular needs and the processes in educa- 
tion by which these may be best discovered and attained. 

a. For those definitions of education which regard educa- 
tion as a process we might quote the following : 



Definition, Nature, Scope and Relationship 13 

" Education is the process by which one mind forms 
another and one heart another heart." — Simon, 

" Education is any act or process which results in knowl- 
edge, or power, or skill." — White. 

" Education is the organization of acquired habits of con- 
duct and tendencies to behavior " and " consists in the or- 
ganizing of resources in the human being of powers of con- 
duct, which shall fit him to his social and physical world." 
— William James. 

" Education is the process of making individual men par- 
ticipants in the best attainments of the human mind, namely 
in that which is most rational, true, beautiful and good." — 
Whewell. 

b. For those definitions which regard education as a pur- 
pose or end we quote the following : 

" The purpose of education is to give to the body and to 
the soul all of the beauty and all of the perfection of which 
they are capable." — Plato. 

" The aim of education is the adjustment of the individual 
to the life in which he must participate." — Ruediger. 

" The end of education is to render the individual as much 
as possible an instrument of happiness, first to himself and 
next to others." — James Mill. 

" The end of education is to permit each individual to at- 
tain the most complete development of his body, mind and 
heart." — Lahoulaye. 

" A liberal education is an education in which the individual 
is cultivated not as an instrument toward some ulterior end, 
but as an end in and to himself alone." — Hamilton. 

c. For those definitions which regard education as prac- 
tical, and fitting a man for a life with his fellows we might 
quote the following : 

" Education is to develop social efficiency in individuals, 
and this comes through the developing of individual power 
by means of work in cooperation." — Gilbert. 

" Education in the last analysis is the influence of one per- 
son upon another." — Scudder. 

" Education is the culture which each generation pur- 



14! Education in Theory and Practice 

posely gives to those who are to be its successors." — John 
Stuart Mill. 

" Education is a preparation for complete living." — Her- 
bert Spencer. 

" Education is a living into better things." — Kerr. 

" Education can only develop and unfold." — Rosenlranz. 

" The child is the center and end of Education." — Bryan. 

" The proper education of to-day is a preparation for 
the duties and responsibilities of life." — Woodward, 

The general view point, purpose and comprehension of 
these definitions of education are evident. The element of 
truth which they contain as well as the trend of thought 
which they convey is also clear. From the author's view 
point, Education is a jjrocess through which individuals go, 
or are taken (more often the latter) which is intended to 
fit them for social efficiency, i.e. for an active aggressive 
life of service among their fellows. It aims to remove from 
the individual defects with which they are born or through 
any cause have acquired, and supplant them with the ca- 
pacity to live harmoniously with their fellows and to share 
equitably' with them the duties and responsibilities as well 
as the material goods of this life. Its purpose or end is to 
create for mankind social advantages and opportunities in 
life by nurture which they could never hope to attain by 
nature. 

Education in its Broad and Narrow Sense. In the defini- 
tions quoted above it was clear that apart from the view 
points which those definitions represented the term education 
itself has a two-fold meaning. It has a broad, liberal usage, 
and a narroAV restricted usage. In its broad sense it is ap- 
plied to any and all experiences and processes by which the 
contents of the soul life is increased. Looked at from this 
view point the educational process begins with the earliest 
prenatal evidences of life and continues till the last signs of 
conscious life disappear in death. It is a process co-ex- 
tensive with life itself, and, in the process, the regular routine 
of school plays as small a part as is the actual fractional 
portion of life that is spent in the schoolroom. In t^e 



Depiition, Nature, Scope and Relationship 15 

broad sense of education the world is the school, mankind the 
teacher, and life itself the school period. 

b. In the narrow sense education applies to those special 
processes of soul enlargement and mental growth that are 
carried on under specialized conditions, during special periods 
of life and by special persons working along specially pre- 
scribed lines with a definite end in view. In other words in 
its narrow sense the term education is used as coextensive 
with the terms school training, school development and 
growth. This is the sense applied to the term when people 
ask the question " how much education have you ? " This 
is also what is meant when one speaks of an educational 
career, or of an educational institution. Parents who wish 
their children to get a " good education " or who send them 
off to school to be " educated," use the term education in 
this narrow sense. In this sense education is s3'nonymous 
with the process of school life and begins and ends with it. 

Reason of Being of Education. But why do we possess 
such a concept as education, what has brought it into ex- 
istence, how is it that it has assumed such colossal propor- 
tion in our thought and activity? These are to us potent 
questions. The reply is, life is one continuous struggle. 
If we would preserve ourselves, we must produce and rear 
offspring, defend ourselves, against the ravages of the forces 
of the environment both natural and artificial, and against 
the aggression of our fellows. In order to live we must 
know both what forces of the environment are favorable, 
what ones are unfavorable, and how those that are unfavor- 
able may be modified, or where this is not possible how they 
may be circumvented or destroyed. We must also know what 
portion of the aggression of our fellows may be overcome, 
what portion must be modified and what part of it may be 
successfully circumvented, and in each case how. That is 
to say we must know how to live in the social relation ; how 
to govern our conduct under all conditions of the environment 
and under all circumstances arising out of our social rela- 
tions so as to cause the least amount of friction in and re- 
striction of our individual tendencies to action. This is the 



16 Education in Theory and Practice 

duty of education, and every system of education is worthy 
of the name only as it approaches this idea in the results 
which it achieves. Hence, education is a process of knowl- 
edge getting. The more liberal the education the more gen- 
eral and broad will be the knowledge gotten. Society de- 
mands of its members that they know and be able to do. It lit- 
tle cares nor long seeks to find out by what process you came 
to know or by what means you can do. It is content to abide 
in the fact that you possess the knowledge and along with 
the possession of it have the power to use it in doing things. 
Under this demand the modern conception of education has 
arisen and the new curriculum has been formed, together with 
the establishment of new systems of schools. To educate 
is to cause to know what is to be done and how it is to be 
done. Hence the effort in all systems is directed toward 
the end, to cause to know. Practical education is the kind 
of education that meets the popular demand ; that kind of 
an education which shows by results how much it causes one 
to know and how much it shows one how to do. This is the 
conception which has created the modern trend toward that 
technical education, manual training, industrial education, 
and vocational and commercial education that has swept over 
those sections of the world peopled by the highly civilized and 
enlightened races. Schools of applied science, high schools, 
colleges and universities of technology, manual training and 
trade schools, agricultural and mechanical colleges and uni- 
versities all have been instituted by the various state govern- 
ments of this country and by the national government in 
other countries under this conception of the meaning and 
application of the term education and of the best methods 
of achieving this, in harmony with the aim and end of life, 
and the value of knowledge in life, and in an education system. 
The rapid rise and growth as well as the loyal support and 
large patronage of these schools testify only too clearly to 
the very unique demand they supply in popular education 
and hoAv well they meet the present conception of the term. 
This brings us down to the peculiarity of American educa- 
tion. 

The all absorbing demand in American education is results. 



De^nition, N attire. Scope and Relationship 17 

What Americans wish they desire without delay. Parents 
in sending their children to school wish to see immediately 
the effects of money and time expended and inconveniences 
endured to educate their children. Any educational process 
that fails to show these results is quickly condemned. In 
order to survive the censure of public opinion and come into 
its own it must readjust itself to get results, a given system 
standing or falling by its success in meeting preconceived 
standards and producing for the state and society educated 
material of a certain quality and degree of efficiency. 

Repetition in Education. However much educational 
processes may be improved, educational systems advanced, 
and however much greater efficiency it may attain, its prog- 
ress and its achievements are limited, or perhaps better, con- 
ditioned by one serious but simple fact. Education is a 
repetitive process. When a highly educated man dies he 
can bequeath his knowledge by means of the printed page to 
those who come after him, but his education as a power of 
achievement to all intents and purposes dies with him. It 
cannot be passed bodily into the mind of his son or into 
the minds of succeeding generations. Each generation, both 
individually and collectively must obtain its education for 
itself, by the expenditure of its own time and energ}'. Its 
knowledge, it is true, does come primarily from that pos- 
sessed by its ancestors, and indeed, consists chiefly of such 
knowledge. But whatever of this ancestral store of knowl- 
edge each individual gains for himself he must gain it by 
putting forth his own time and energy, the total amount of 
knowledge possessed by any people at a given time being 
made up of his ancestral knowledge aided by that small in- 
crement which each generation may wring out of the environ- 
ing world during its own struggles for existence and during 
the stage of early life, preparatory for that struggle. 

This knowledge which is the result of education is ob- 
tained through three sources : namely experience, observa- 
tion and experiment. The educated must teach the unedu- 
cated, the old must teach the young. Socrates taught Plato 
and Plato in turn taught Aristotle. Herein lies both the 
fascination and the burden of education. If we could ac- 



18 Education in Theory and Practice 

quire an education once for all for ourselves and our pos- 
terity education as a process would be an easy one and we 
would all be no doubt highly educated and that too without 
anything like the waste of time, energy, money and personal 
application necessary under the present physical and mental 
structure and social order. But this is not the case, and 
education is never finished, but each individual is carried only 
so far. Then when he drops out of the world of life and 
action, his offspring is taken over the same ground, perhaps 
a little farther, perhaps not quite so far, each according to 
his circumstances or condition and according as his mental 
nature reacts upon and responds to the physical and mental 
stimuli of the school and of the world about him. Each gen- 
eration receives its intellectual inheritance (merely a favora- 
ble or unfavorable physical basis possessing a potentiality 
for mind) from the preceding generation, labors to improve 
upon it, stamps it with the impress of its efforts and acquired 
knowledge and passes it on down the line to the su^^ceeding 
generations by training them in its activities and secret in- 
tellectual lore. Nothing comes into this life in its finished 
and perfect form. Everything in the organic and inorganic 
world, the bee, the flower, the stone, has its moment of be- 
ginning, its period of growth and development, its season 
of flower and fruition, its hour of death and decay and finally 
its fateful process of dissipation and disintegration. The 
mental life so far as its earthly existence is concerned in its 
relations with body, undergoes apparently the same proc- 
ess. Its susceptibility to educational processes and educa- 
tional influences lies in the fact that it is imperfect from the 
start in its power of manifestation, but from the beginning 
one possesses the power of taking on an enlarging form sub- 
ject to the growth of its place of abode, the body, and to 
the influence of the environment. 

Tlieory and Practice in Education. The individual who 
enters upon the task of controlling the manner of growth and 
lines of development of a living subject without an extended 
knowledge of the nature of the subject to be controlled and 
developed, is undoubtedly seriously handicapped at the outset. 
Whatever other resources either natural or artificial may 



Definition, Nature, Scope and Relationship 19 

be at hand to solve the difficulties, the problem will still pre- 
sent certain forms of difficulties otherwise practically un- 
solvable. The problem is very like one that for instance 
would confront a farmer who was trying to raise a certain 
kind of plant from the seed without knowing anything about 
the nature of the seed, what physical conditions are favorable 
to its germination and growth, into what kind of soil it 
should be planted or what kind of care and attention are 
necessary for its continued growth and final flowering and 
fruition. Perhaps a still better case for illustration would 
be that of a man attempting to feed, care for and raise 
animals without knowing what kind of food they may best 
eat, how the eating of various foods will effect them, in 
what quantities and after the lapse of what intervals of time 
the feeding should be repeated and how it should be " mixed " 
or " changed " so as to produce the best results in normal 
healthy growth and development. The same dire results 
that would arise in either of these cases to the object under- 
going the experience will attend the like experience in the 
case of the object experiencing the mental process. Only 
with this noteworthy exception in the case of the super^'ision 
and care of the mind, namely that by its very nature and 
subtlety mind presents problems in and of itself that require 
a distinct and separate consideration and stud3\ It is ob- 
vious, therefore, that to be able properly to control and 
direct the growth and development of the mind we must have 
an especially capable knowledge of it. That is, the teacher 
must have a special fitness for his work, which has been ac- 
quired by special preparation and training for it ! This 
fact has just begun to be brought home to and impressed 
upon the workers in this field. This is seen by the strenu- 
ous efforts now put forth by them, though, in some cases, 
under statutory compulsion, to master the detailed knowledge 
of mind, bring it into the field of education and blend the 
principal of the two into a harmonious scheme that works 
out the laws of the activity of the mind and makes fitting ap- 
plication of them in the theory and practice of education. 
Education may be an art and some people may claim for it 
the advantage of being more inherited than acquired, but 



20 Education in Theory and Practice 

in the severe test of modern physiological and psychological 
research it nevertheless has been proved true that however 
adept one may be in any profession by the gift of nature, 
he or she is never so well adapted for a profession as to be 
incapable of some considerable improvement or of learning 
something of value from the accumulated experience of the 
world collected and classified in such a form as to constitute 
a science. 

There are some things highly essential to a success in 
education and in educating. One of the chief of these is 
practice. While it is valuable as a means of attaining a 
high degree of perfection in any profession or along any 
line of activity, practice becomes capable of displaying its 
power to its greatest advantage only when supplemented by 
theory. By theory we reach out for results within the range 
of known and recognized possibilities, by practice we test 
these theories for whatever virtue they may contain in fact. 
In the great game of life these two ends meet and one acts 
as a kind of restraint upon the other. 

Art and Science in Education. From the element of prac- 
tice in the field of education we develop what is generally 
called the art of education. From the element of theory 
we develop what is commonly called the science of education. 
The teacher who in his daily contact with his pupils and stu- 
dents observes little generalities, or communities of action 
and thought, or devises methods of attaining a desired re- 
sult, is acquiring the art of education. For example when 
either by accident or conscious experiment one learns, that, 
when students assemble in the morning for school boiling 
over with a life and enthusiasm that seriously threatens to 
make impossible the obtainment of the usual quiet and order 
in the school for the day, by merely having them sing, in the 
opening exercises or at any time a hymn that is of a soothing 
and quieting melody, their excitement cools down and their 
youthful exuberance subsides, he has, whether wittingly or no, 
reached a fundamental art of handling pupils. Again, when 
this same teacher or another discovers that by using illustra- 
tions from the daily life of the pupils he can arouse in them 
a distinct and peculiar interest in the work and hold their 



Definition, Nature, Scope and Relationship 21 

attention longer or until he has succeeded in impressing the 
facts that the pupil is required to learn on his mind, he is 
gaining ability in the art of teaching. Still, again, when he 
has learned that, by asking interesting and suggestive ques- 
tions about a given lesson and then leaving the child's mind 
in a state of restless curiosity, he can arouse the young mind 
until it will of its own accord seek out answers to these 
questions for itself, he has acquired the essence of the art of 
education. 

Now when the fact which aids the one teacher in this or 
that circumstance and that which aids in another or the 
same circumstances are brought together and this is repeated 
again and again until from many sources and conditions 
there are gathered together a number of isolated facts, and 
all are compared and a general principle common to all is 
deduced therefrom, one is moving into the field of education 
as a science. The art of education is the knowledge gained 
by immediate experiments here and there, spasmodic, acci- 
dental, unrelated experiments, and used in a general manner. 
The science is the knowledge gained when the experiment of 
many individuals are systematized and regulated and cer- 
tain definite though perhaps general conditions and results 
formed and tabulated and the law or principle underlying 
these results as causes, formulated and given out. By col- 
lecting, comparing and classifying the facts of experience 
and experiment gained in the art of education it has been 
found that the mind has a power and shows a tendency to 
group and classify certain impressions of the senses together 
in certain ways under certain natural relations that they 
bear. It is in the understanding and expected validity of a 
law so deduced that the art of education and science of educa- 
tion blend. The science gives us the law, but the law being a 
generality in which the special cases of exceptions are ig- 
nored it remains for art in practice in the detailed processes 
of experiment and experience to test in each particular case 
and see just what part, if any, is valid in the particular case 
under consideration, and what not, and thereby clarify and 
purge the science. 
Method in Education. The success of education as a proc- 



123 Education in Theory and Practice 

ess has been found to depend pretty much upon three equally 
important things. Knowledge of the individual with whom 
as an object education has to deal, knowledge of the subject 
matter which education is to impart to the individual and 
knowledge of the method by which education is to bring the 
mind of the individual into contact with the matter, the 
proper intaking of which constitutes education in this sense. 
Successful education is attained when betAveen these the most 
cordial relations and agreeable association have been estab- 
lished and the most lasting as well as most beneficial effect 
produced both upon the subject as recipient and the subject 
matter as the thing received. But just how to do this is 
the problem. Because of the great diversity of homes and 
home surroundings from which the material to be educated 
in our schools comes, the variety of temperaments and general 
differences both physical and psychical, due to various 
normal and abnormal conditions, the human mind presents 
such a heterogeneous form as to complicate and make almost 
hopeless any attempt to reduce the chaotic mass of facts 
observed to anything like the definiteness that the term science 
would lead one ordinarily to expect, where that term is used. 
However, we do have method in the science of education, 
and this method is to-day reduced pretty much to a science. 
As such it has contributed much to the cause of education, 
and by advanced educators is considered practically in- 
dispensable to those who would succeed. 

The Use of Terms. In attempting to discuss method in 
teaching it will be of value for clearness of treatment to state 
that the terms in general and ordinary use in education are 
not clearly defined. Each author uses the delegated freedom 
of authorship to bring into play his own ingenuity and power 
of thought to express his own conception of the meaning of 
terms in his own manner and language, limited only by the 
general laws of propriety and good usage. For that reason 
there are almost as many conceptions of the subject evident 
in the use of educational terms as there are respective au- 
thorities upon educational matters. However, several of the 
terms in general usage though technically they are differ- 
entiated and regarded as separate terms, in common usage 



Definition, Nature, Scope and Relationship 23 

they are regarded as synonyms and are so used. But as 
this is true in general of every field of science, the fact need 
not give any particular concern here. The terms most com- 
monly occurring in education and which underlie all prin- 
ciples to be applied arc instruction, teaching, training, and 
learning. By the popular mind teaching is generally re- 
garded as the process of producing mental activity by pre- 
senting objects and subjects of thought to the pupil's mind 
that results in knowledge for him. With this general con- 
ception, however, already the difficulty of defining the others 
is clearly seen. For the benefit of the student, however, 
clearness will be served b}^ giving definitions for the other 
terms in which the generally understood distinction and dif- 
ferences are reasonably clearly brought out. It may be 
said that teaching' is what is carried on by the teacher in 
presentation with its accompanying explanation and other 
aids to clear understanding; instruction is the mental ac- 
tivity aroused in the pupil by and during the process of teach- 
ing; while education is the state of mind that results in the 
subject from this external and internal activity by means 
of which knowledge is gained and skill and power in mind and 
body acquired. But in each case it will be found that that 
which each shares in common with the other is that in each 
there are acts of presentation on the part of some one, say 
the teacher, mental activity on the part of some one, say the 
pupil. Knowledge, power and skill result in the psychic 
make up of the individual educated. Reduced to a nicety 
this difference is generally recognized. Teaching is carried 
on by other than the subject receiving the education, while 
learning represents the activity of the subject himself in 
his own behalf. Instruction is teaching limited to a narrow 
and more specialized field of knowledge and is often regarded 
as a phase secondary to teaching in the broader and more 
general sense. Training applies more directly to skill and 
power and dexterity in bodily movements, nerve control and 
muscular coordination. However, in each and every case 
in the narrow sense education as above understood is accom- 
plished to a degree more or less extensive according as the 
system under which the process is carried out is efficient and 



24 Education in Theory and Practice 

thorough or not. In both the narrow and the broad mean- 
ing of the term all of these processes denoted by the words, 
teaching, instruction, training, are educational, and any 
and all methods employed in accomplishing them if success- 
ful will be received with more or less degree of satisfaction. 

Much ado has been, and is still being made, over the matter 
of methods in education. This is undoubtedly justly so. 
For while method soon tells in any field of labor it is particu- 
larly effective in result-getting in the field of education. So 
well has the importance of methods in education been recog- 
nized that methods have developed to have subject matter 
of its own which it is now required generally that all who 
would aspire to teach should obtain some knowledge of its 
meaning and content in education. By method in the edu- 
cational sense both as used narrowly and as used broadly 
is meant any series of acts of teaching arranged according 
to the art and science of education to attain a definite end 
in itself or in a definite and outlined series of processes. 

Education and Psychology. In the study of the mind 
there are to be found two elements, the physical element and 
the psychical element. We have the former in the nature 
and condition of the mind itself, and the latter in the fact that 
the mental life is physiologically conditioned. The study of 
education proper will involve, therefore, a two-fold aspect, 
one, the psychological which considers the general mental na- 
ture and temperament of the individual, the other the physio- 
logical which considers the physical organism, its nature and 
its general adaptitude to its environment during the period 
of the educative process, also how the one may be used to 
stimulate and arouse, the other to an activity which will in- 
duce healthy growth and development as well as lead to an 
enlargement of the field of knowledge, and the laws by which 
it will act when properly aroused and stimulated. Every 
educator recognizes the fact that the child has a mind and 
that that mind is capable of receiving an impetus to growth 
and development through the medium of his physical organ- 
ism. The problem of the best means available for stimulating 
this growth both in the field of psychology and education 
is just beginning to loom up. It also grows and takes on 



Definition, Nature, Scope and Relationship 25 

proportions not only as the fact that all minds appear to 
be different in their capacity of taking on development and 
of responding to different kinds of stimuli is realized, but also 
when it is observed that at different periods in its existence 
the mind responds in different degrees to the same kinds and 
forms of stimuli. To a certain limited degree mind seems to 
be independent of the body in some of its activities and forms 
of manifestations, but in the matter of education and educa- 
tional processes mind is apparently almost completely de- 
pendent upon the body and its relation to other bodies. It is 
the aim of psychology to trace out the operation of mind, 
the bodily states by which these are induced, to discover 
how the one acts upon the other and how it is in its turn 
acted upon by it. Education seeks to embody the facts ob- 
tained about the mind in psychology in a code of princi- 
ples, or perhaps better here, laws, whereby methods of ap- 
plying the truths of psychology to education might be 
worked out into a fitting and successful scheme which will 
promote the largest and most complete form of mental, moral 
and physical growth and development. Here it is that edu- 
cation and pyschology strike common ground. Here it is 
that they begin to diverge. In education the mind is the 
thing to be treated, that is to undergo the effect of the mold- 
ing influence of these active processes. The science through 
which we are to learn of mind is psychology. It tells of 
the natural growth, development and activity of the mind. 
If education is the result to be wrought on mind, if educa- 
tion is a result to be attained by mind, if the thing to be in- 
structed developed and trained is mind and that which is con- 
trolled by mind, namely, the body, if the principles to be ap- 
plied are to be applied to mind in its normal and incidentally 
to mind in its abnormal operations, then these operations can 
only be successfully performed, these resulting states can 
only be successfully produced by an adequate knowledge of 
mind, its nature and its laws of action growth and develop- 
ment and manner of manifestation in these operations. This 
is why a knowledge of psychology is so essential to a suc- 
cessful direction of the process of education, why education 
and psychology are correlative sciences, why an attempt at 



26 Education in Theory and Practice 

the effectual carrying out of the process of education is a 
failure where the basis of all methods and principles are not 
founded upon the science of mind, psychology. This is why 
to-day more than ever before psychology is made the start- 
ing point of all work in education and of all work in initia- 
ting and directing educational processes. 

Education and Pedagogy. With most authors the idea 
of education and pedagogy are kept apart from each other. 
With them education is a result and pedagogy a group or a 
system of principles, by which the result is obtained. As 
was stated in the definitions above teaching is the methods 
by which the process of enlargement in education is accom- 
plished. Pedagogy is the science which tells what the prin- 
ciples involved are and shows how they are applied to ac- 
complish this end. Education is the process of teaching the 
instrument of guiding and directing the process throughout 
its course, while pedagogy is the principle or perhaps better 
the group of principles which tell us how the instrument is 
to be applied to the subject undergoing the treatment. 
However, while the above distinctions afford a definite kind 
of clearness that has its practical value in actual life it must 
be remembered that the term education in this sense has a 
two-fold meaning, which it will be well to understand here 
in order to avoid future misunderstanding. In one of these 
senses it means the processes by which certain predetermined 
ends are to be attained ; in the other it denotes the end which 
these processes are supposed to attain in the individual and 
in individual capacity for activity. It is thus at one and 
the same time both an end and a means to an end. As a 
process it is a means to an end, as a result it is an end in 
itself. 

Education as Related to the History of Education. In its 
general or broad sense education as a process is as old as 
man himself. At first it was unorganized and without sys- 
tem, being conducted spasmodically and as emergency de- 
manded. Later on as the need for it spread it became more 
regular, more organized and systematized. At first there 
were no schools as such nor were there any set places or times 
for giving out instruction. Specially designated places gen- 



Definition, Nature, Scope and Relationship 27 

erally in the opening or under natural protection from the 
elements, followed later, as did specially built structures. 
Gradually system was introduced. With system came 
method under observation and experiment. At this ad- 
vanced stage the need of keeping records showed itself. The 
beginning of keeping records in education marked the advent 
of the history of the development of education. The value of 
keeping records of the fruits of observation and experiment 
in education has long since been seen and appreciated. By 
this means all of the various vicissitudes through which edu- 
cation has passed together with its various outgrowths, all 
that have had any notable effect on education since the dawn 
of our western civilization in the Hebrew, Grecian and Ro- 
man cultures have been preserved for us of to-day. Through 
them we ma}^ learn the stages through which the process of 
education has passed and just how much each has meant to 
us and our present methods of conducting education. By 
means of the history of education those interested in educa- 
tion to-day can tell how certain things came to be in educa- 
tion and what effect their being has had upon those particu- 
lar countries or localities in which this particular form of 
education has been fostered or allowed to develop. They 
can also see what particular phase of education has been 
developed in various sections, how these phases have modified 
or been modified by the manners, morals and institutions of 
Various countries, as well as how they reflect the tempera- 
ment of a people. Apart from this, by studying the history 
of education students can see what warrant certain methods 
and processes in education have and through what fluctua- 
tions they have passed before they reached their present 
stability. In this knowledge they can feel that these methods 
and processes have been purged of their dross by years, even 
centuries of test under every form of stress that a changing 
condition of living and thinking and a changing environment 
could force upon it. Thus, history of education shows many 
things in our systems to-day that have outlived centuries 
of criticisms and opposition. He who in the liglit of this 
hastily assails a system or a method, takes upon himself 
grave responsibility. However by this it is not meant to say 



S8 Education in Theory and Practice 

that everything that has come down to us as relics of the 
past has not served its day of usefulness, and is therefore 
not worthy of further use. Nor is it intended to bind us 
in any set way to the past. There is much in education to- 
day which the history of education shows has held promi- 
nence in the past and which has the warrant of ages of ex- 
periment and test, but which has lived out its days of use- 
fulness and because of which has been and should be dis- 
carded. It is onl}^ recently that a criticism of the present 
content of educational process and method has started a re- 
form, the good of which all appreciate now fully. The wave 
of reform brought with it the reduction of the time devoted 
to a study of the classics, the removal or reduction of time 
devoted to rote and stereotyped teaching and the introduc- 
tion of more science, history, and biography. It also led 
gradually to the introduction of modern language and pro- 
fessional, commercial, vocational and industrial phases of 
education. 

Thus it is seen that education owes much to the history 
of education in more ways than one. So closely has the 
growth and development of education been associated with 
the history of education that no clear conception of the 
former can be had unless it be gotten in the light of the 
latter. The history of education is therefore a necessary 
adjunct of education and should go hand in hand with it. 
Knowledge of it means knowledge of education. Courses 
in education therefore cannot hope of much success unless 
they are given in connection with a course in the history of 
education. 

From this brief discussion of things introductory, but at 
the same time of value for the light they throw upon the 
subject in general we pass to discussions more directly to 
the purpose of the work. 

REFERENCE READING 

Bain's " Education as a Science." Chap. I. 
Barnard's "Journal." Vol. XI and Vol. XIII. 
Compayre's " Lecture on Teaching." Chap. I. 
White's "Elements of Pedagogy." Chapter Introduction. 
Spencer's " Education." Chap. I. 



Definition, Nature, Scope and Relationship 29 

Butler's " The Meaning of Education." Lectures I and II. 

Compayre's "Psychology Applied to Education." Chaps. Ill and XI. 

McKeever's " Psychologic Method in Teaching." Cnap. I. 

Dewey's " The School and Society." Chap. II. 

Roark's " Psychology in Jiducation." Introduction. 

Bagley's " The Educative Process," Chap. II. 

Ladd's " The Higher Education." Chap. IV. 



CHAPTER II 

THE NATURE AND AIM OF EDUCATION 

A. The Aim of Education. As was seen by tlic various 
definitions quoted in the opening chapter, the aims of educa- 
tion were manifold. Indeed, in the aim of education as in 
the definitions of it, it takes but little observation either 
of the process of education or of its conception in ad- 
vanced minds to discover that the aims of education are as 
varied as are the relations which individuals sustain to each 
other and to their local environment. A true education 
would aim to fit man for the proper fulfilling of all of the 
responsibilities of these relations ; to prepare him for " com- 
plete living " in the Spencerian sense of the word. It aims 
to bring about harmonious development in the individual 
members of the human family. We are born into the world 
with certain defects, moral, mental and physical. Educa- 
tion as such aims to remove or modify these defects in such 
a way as to give us increased activity and increased partici- 
pation in and enjoyment of the affairs of life. What we be- 
come in life is determined by two things, first, the natural 
tendency to action growing out of an inherited structure 
given us by the accumulated experience of the race in its 
life history which we call instincts, and, secondly, by the 
modifications which the forces of the environment work upon 
us in inhibiting or nurturing these tendencies to action. 
From this viewpoint the aim of education Avould be adjust- 
ment to any and all conditions required for or in any v.-ay 
contributing to life. The conditions requisite for and con- 
tributing to life to which education aims to adjust us when 
considered in detail are far too numerous to receive even 
the most brief consideration. However, we may mention 
some of the few more important. Among them are physical 
adjustment, mental adjustment, economic, civic and social 

30 



The Nature and Aim of Education 81 

adjustment. We take up first the adjustment to the physi- 
cal environment. 

The adjustment to the physical environment is primary, 
for without this form of adjustment life itself would scarcely 
be possible. Not only would it be difficult to begin life, but 
its maintenance would be an even greater difficulty. Physical 
adjustment consists of a series of acts seeking to circumvent 
and overcome the bad effects of the play of the natural forces 
present in the environment. This circumvention and over- 
coming may be accomplished in many ways. Chief among 
them is the making of wearing apparel for overcoming or 
aiding the various climatic conditions, namely, the heat of 
summer and of the torrid zone, the cold of winter and of the 
frigid zones, and the effect of sunshine, rain and wind. The 
preparation and taking of medicine to check or repair waste 
brought on through the ravages of the elements of the en- 
vironment and to thicken or thin the blood for heat or cold 
as the case may be, the building of houses for protection 
against heat and our fellow man, the manufacture of the 
material for artificial light in the home and business plant, 
the preparation of artificial foodstuffs that enable man to 
escape the environmental conditions, all of these constitute 
forms of physical adjustment which man must learn if he 
would successfully maintain himself against the forces of 
the world that play constantly about him. But these are 
only artificial means of adjustments. The natural forms 
of physical adjustment are only indirectly under the control 
of man. These are characterized by being much slower in 
the results they produce. They are not under control of the 
human will but spring involuntarily from the natural reaction 
of the life spirit in its struggles against the external forces 
of the environment. Such adjustments show themselves 
sooner or later generally as modified structure and in science 
are known as acquired characteristics. These acquired char- 
acteristics may or may not become transmissible by heredity 
as they do or do not enter into the living and functional 
activity of the organism. The adjustments of the mind to 
its intellectual environment are secondary in their importance 
to life, but primary in their importance to happiness. The 



83 Education in Theory and Practice 

mental acquisition of the various racial groups of mankind 
is varied. That of the various individuals in the same racial 
group or subgroup varies also considerably, according to 
their circumstance or condition of living and the opportunity 
which it offers them of gaining mental advancement. The 
minds vary also in quality both among individuals and races 
so far as their capacity for gaining special knowledge and 
their fitness for special kinds or degrees of activity. This 
disparity in mental calibre (quality of mind) and intelligence 
(quality of mind and content of mind) is the source of much 
inconvenience and misunderstanding among men. Some men 
are so far in advance of their fellows in their possession of 
knowledge that they are and can be of little good to them. 
Consequently though possessing much knowledge their power 
for good among men practically is nil, because they have not 
enough in common in their thoughts and manner of action 
and reaction to effect a mutual regard and general consent 
for commingling, even if they really desired such. These 
cases are few it is true. But every once in a while the clash 
of such spirits with their fellows leads to some serious shock 
to the general social body. Often, too, the world loses what 
these would give, because they are out of harmony and touch 
with these spirits and it is thereby set back oftentimes many 
3^ears in its progress by not being in a position mentally to 
appreciate the value of the contents of such advanced minds 
and therefore repudiates it often in its entirety. On the 
other hand there are men who are so far behind their fellows 
in their possession of knowledge that they are not so much 
a menace to civilization as they are an inert and sometimes 
stubborn load which contributes little except mere weight 
to racial advancement and adjustment through education. 
In fact they are mostly the mentally " unadjustables " and 
" uneducables." Between these two groups just mentioned 
as extremes there are to be found men of all degrees of ad- 
justableness and of all capacities for education and modifica- 
tion through education. Among these might be found the 
super-adjustable as well as the sub-adjustable mentally, the 
various forms of maniacs, paranoiacs, inebriates, eccentrics 
and feeble-minded, with their corresponding states of mind 



The Nature and Aim of Education 33 

and susceptibility to education, and educational effort. To 
the man therefore, who in this state of seeming intellectual 
instability and uncertainty must depend upon individual 
knowledge and ability to steer his intellectual ship safely 
through the disturbed group or period, there must come a 
mental adjustment that must be at once wide and general. 
If he would hold his own and make progress he must at the 
same time attain tlie mental equipoise and balance necessary 
for safe guidance in such an intellectual maze. He must be 
capable of taking on adjustment. The intellectual aberra- 
tion (super-mental adjustment) to which mankind is sub- 
ject and the misery and suffering which this entails upon 
men are too numerous to need mentioning. 

False prophets abound everywhere as do false agitators 
and preachers of false creeds. All of these are mere cases 
of those unadjusted mentally to the environment. Where 
these are sufficiently in touch with the mental environment to 
readjust themselves through education and do so they may 
become of practical service to the world in aiding its progress. 

Moral Adjustment. The term moral adjustment is used 
here in its primary and primitive sense. By moral adjust- 
ment is meant the adjustment of an individual to the habits 
and customs of his fellows as a race or type. The eccentric 
in dress, in manner of living and achieving all come under 
this head. These are they who are continuously " shock- 
ing " society by arbitrary and unusual habits and actions. 
We find them in the parlor, the library, the dining-room and 
hall as well as in the places of public assembly. Instead 
of being in harmony with the social order these men are de- 
cidedl}'' out of harmony with it. Often they are so by choice 
and pride themselves in so being, in which case it is the more 
difficult to bring them under the adjusting influence of educa- 
tion. Still it must be admitted that they are out of ad- 
justment with the social order and to the extent of their lack 
of adjustment retard if not seriously check, social move- 
ments and social progress. To this extent they are not 
harmoniously developed and are not prepared for complete 
living. For the most complete living is only to be had where 
there is the greatest harmony and accord among men. But 



S4 Education in Theory and Practice 

this is not the most common nor the most serious form of lack 
of moral adjustment. This is to be found in the criminal. 
His is the most flagrant case of lack of adjustment. He 
it is that the mighty forces of society bend their efforts to 
reform. One of the chief burdens of the public school is 
to educate in such manner as to protect society against the 
vicious and the criminal tendencies in society. While many 
of the evil and criminal tendencies in men are created outside 
of, away from, and despite the efforts of the school much of 
it is fostered there. Some is brought on by laxity of 
methods, some by severity of methods, but all of it education 
should overcome. 

Religious Adjustment. Nowhere is adjustment more 
necessary than in matters of religion. Religion is very in- 
tolerant and very impatient in her intolerance. Those who 
are unadjusted here have generally paid for their lack of 
adjustment in most countries by considerable suffering and 
at times even by the loss of their lives. Throughout all ages 
religion has generally demanded and does now frequently 
demand the freedom, the life and limb of those unajusted. 
Here persecution is rampant and the suffering inflicted is al- 
most indescribable even if not almost unbelievable. In re- 
ligious adjustment education as conducted in the schools can 
accomplish little chiefly because no religious education is 
taught in the schools. The church originally controlled 
all forms of education and in the separation between church 
and state she has held tenaciously to religious education, 
losing in the fight all other forms of education except per- 
haps some right to continue moral education. Now the 
church is mostly stultified and wedded to the past. It is also 
to a considerable extent dogmatic and empirical. Being 
these it accepts change slowly, consequently with it, adjust- 
ment is but a small possibility. It opposes adjustment 
through the channel of the school and initiates but little 
within itself. And yet how nmch has this lack of adjustment 
not cost the church, the state, and society.? And yet, if the 
church is to keep its hold on the people, it must accept edu- 
cation and make within itself those adjustments which educa- 
tion brings in order that religious adjustment may keep pace 



The Nature and Aim of Education 35 

with the other forms of adjustment which education aims to 
bring to men. 

Economic Adjustment. Indigence, poverty and pauper- 
ism are the lot of those unadjusted to the economic environ- 
ment. The multimillionaire represents the highest stages 
of economic adjustment. Morally he may be completely out 
of order, unadjusted and he may suffer certain incon- 
veniences, therefor, but the degree of economic adjustment 
must have been for him high. Much of his adjustment if 
we are to believe the facts printed about them has been gained 
not so much through the education of the school as through 
that gained by contact with the world, its men and its affairs. 
Of course much of the wealth in the possession of the mil- 
lionaire class does not represent the real fruits of economic 
adjustment. Especially does it not represent adjustment 
during the life of one individual. Then, too, much of that 
wealth that has been accumulated by one individual repre- 
sents sometimes extortion, robbery and " graft," unscrupu- 
lous and unprincipled plunder of the public goods and utili- 
ties that have been made possible by the general faults of 
governmental agencies, and the general social disorder, which 
prevails to more or less extent. Without this fact before us 
it would appear from the few rich that there are but few 
highly adjusted to the economic order. However, there are 
many who are highly adjusted to the economic order, but 
who do not stand out as do these mentioned here because 
they have not invoked the secondary means to advance the 
natural results of their economic adjustment. So that while 
the various stages of material progress and material accu- 
mulation represent the various degrees of adjustment, it 
does so fully, only where the fruits of this adjustment are 
allowed to flow freely but unabated by accessory conditions 
unto those so adjusted. Thus the day laborer, the mechanic, 
artisan and farmer as a class seem to be at the lower base of 
the scale of economic adjustment. But where there is natu- 
ral want or suffering here the cause or causes will be found to 
be less elsewhere than in mere lack of adjustment in this par- 
ticular field, that is in the economic field. Education both 
moral and mental will do much to effect a more general 



36 Education in Theory and Practice 

economic adjustment, that is, Avill do much equally to dis- 
tribute the per capita wealth of the world, though because 
of other forms that combine to produce results economic- 
ally this will never be fully attained even under imperfect 
economic adjustment. 

Civil Adjustment. In civil adjustment the danger is from 
the demagogue and the professional politician. To avoid 
the sweet antidotes of the one and the panaceas for all po- 
litical ills of the other, is the aim of education in seeking 
to accomplish adjustment to the civic environment. The 
true statesman represents the man most perfectly adjusted 
to the civil environment. Here as elsewhere are the dangers 
of lack of adjustment present. The pillars of free govern- 
ment, freedom of life, freedom of property, rights and justice, 
all are to be safe guarded if government is to be maintained. 
To bring this about the fullest harmony in adjustment must 
prevail. Of all governments popular governments are the 
most constantly in danger from the evil consequences of lack 
of adjustment. It was in this necessity that public or state 
education was undertaken. The hope of the state lies in 
popular education, to teach individuals their civic duties and 
responsibilities and to give them a full appreciation of their 
seriousness. It was in the realization of this burden en- 
cumbent upon it that the state first saw the need of con- 
trolling and directing certain forms of education and seeing 
to it that certain conceptions of the state and its duties and 
relationship be given to the citizenship. It was in realizing 
how vitally such education affected its own existence and 
wellbeing that it consented to grapple with the church over 
this form of education. 

Social Adjustment. Adjustment to the social environment 
is both varied and intricate. Because of the ramifications 
of the general social problems, social adjustment involves 
all that has already been said and more too. The social 
environment is in a state of unstable equilibrium. It is al- 
ways active and we believe always progressive. Here ad- 
justment is paramount. We must be adjusted to every re- 
lation into which we come in association with our fellows. 
Adjustment there must be, to our political institutions, our 



The Nature and Aim of Education 37 

ecclesiastical institutions and our educational institutions. 
Those unadjusted to the social environment are sometimes 
ignored, sometimes ostracized, sometimes banished and at 
other times imprisoned and even whether legally or illegally, 
deprived of life. Full adjustment here means social con- 
tentment, social happiness. It means complete living. If 
education could bring about complete adjustment here all 
other forms of adjustment would have been achieved. All 
that is evil and corrupt in society, all that makes for social 
disorder would have been removed. The golden rule would 
be in vogue working smoothly. The da}^ of the millennium 
would be at hand. Of course this will hardly be possible 
in the actual and yet education can and will accomplish 
slowly a general social adjustment. 

Equal Opportu/nity. Besides these various forms of ad- 
justment which education aims to effect, there are other aims 
in education that are as far reaching in their results as ad- 
justment and perhaps even more fundamental. One of these 
aims is to create equal power over circumstances. Since no 
two men are alike either physically or mentally and since 
no two of them react alike against natural forces their op- 
portunity and their power over circumstance are limited 
in various degress at the very outset by nature. It is with- 
out this realm of natural difference, in opportunity and 
power over circumstance, that education aims to be effective. 
It is a fact that education can overcome the limitations of 
nature. And it is in giving to all the same or equal oppor- 
tunity to improve and use what they have by nature that 
education is to give equal opportunity and equal power over 
circumstance. All human institutions teem with the human 
element. This human element is selfishness. All govern- 
ments are built mostly upon clannishness, caste and favorit- 
ism. This is true even in a republic, though least of all 
there. In giving equal opportunity and equal power over 
circumstance, education aims to place all as nearly as 
possible on a basis of individual merit. In doing this educa- 
tion has had to combat the idea that all men are created 
equal. But while in government this tenet is necessary for 
justice to prevail and is absolutely true before the law, as a 



38 Education in Theory and Practice 

principle of psychology it is hardly tenable. The minds 
and bodies of men differ infinitely. This difference however, 
we hold is not so great as we are inclined to grant nor does 
it count for the great differences in quality in individual 
minds. There is a great disparity mentally between men 
and also between their achievements. But is there " a di- 
vinity in some of us that makes us great whether we will it 
or no " which the others of us do not possess? If there is 
such a divinity there it certainly does not do much for us 
apart from opportunity and circumstance. The real fact 
is that though the intellect may be better in some than in 
others from its dependence upon the physical organism or 
even if we assume that it is an entity capable of independent 
existence yet when through education equal opportunity and 
equal power over circumstance is given, efforts to prove this 
difference in mental quality show very varying and uncer- 
tain results. Not that there is any reason to claim that the 
intelligence of all is equal. The difference in intelligence is 
too great to be for a moment called into question. But this 
difference is not traceable so much to the differences in the 
mind itself as to its access to, acquaintance with, and ability 
to use the materials of civilization in the acquisition of 
knowledge. Locke was undoubtedly within the range of truth 
when he compared the mind to a sheet of paper on which 
everything that it was to contain had yet to be written. But 
Ward who went him one step further and compared the mind 
to soil into which seed was to be planted and cultivated struck 
at the fundamental verity of the problem. Great minds, 
" men of genius," are not so much born so (by nature) as 
they are made so (by nurture). Many men have no access 
to and skill in the accumulated knowledge of their day. 
Many of those who have such access lose their opportunity 
for superiority by default in time and energy. They waste 
their opportunity by not taking the best advantage of it 
whether through ignorance or inability. Throughout the 
entire strata of society those members of society who have 
acquired varying elevations among their fellows are those 
who have been able to possess in correspondingly varying 
degrees the intellectual and material " heritage of the past " 



The Nature and Aim of Education 39 

and used their possessions to the best of their " knowledge and 
abihtj." Of course, most of them possess this heritage in 
varying degrees, but wherever they have gained the as- 
cendency they have been found to have possessed certain 
amounts of the heritage and to have used it. The fact that 
there have been so few great minds is due to the meager 
transmission and slight diffusion of the accumulated knowl- 
edge, to the poor organization of society and to the compara- 
tively small number who have gained access to the stored 
experience of the human race. But this is the aim of edu- 
cation, namely, to equalize the opportunity of all in their 
access to the accumulated knowledge of the race and to give 
to one and all alike equal opportunity to acquire skill in the 
use of its material achievement. 

It was stated above under the head of economic adjust- 
ment that some men through the control of large influences 
obtain adjustments that are not rightly theirs and because 
of this unfair advantage and profit would seek to thwart the 
aim of education in bringing about adjustment. This con- 
stitutes the chief objection to popular education in certain 
minds. The principal reason for the argument of the dif- 
ference in the capacity of individuals is that there is present 
in such minds a tacit knowledge that the equal opportunity 
which education gives will rob them of their advantage and 
prevent the further exploitation of the ignorant by the in- 
telligent, of the socially low by the socially high. But this is 
and must be the fundamental aim of education. Herein lies 
one of its chief virtues. Especially should it serve this end 
in republics where the laws are made by the popular will as 
expressed in the casting of the ballot and where an equal op- 
portunity in life and its good is vouchsafed to all. 

From the foregoing it would follow that since men are 
born into the world under the present regime in all strata 
of society and in all social conditions and must struggle from 
under the burdens and hindrances of these conditions it must 
follow that if education accomplishes its aim of equalizing 
opportunity and of giving access to and skill in the use of 
the intellectual and material accumulations circumstances 
of race it must also give them power over the circumstances 



40 Education in Theory and Practice 

of life. That we are all " creatures of circumstance " is a 
truth that man has had forced upon him by the ravaging 
experience of countless ages. Many experiments have been 
made to show the effect of circumstance upon the human 
mind. The most noted of such experiments are those of 
Psammetichus with the two new born babies, of Kasper 
Hauser, Rauber and Father Xavier, the Indian Missionary. 
Besides the experiments here referred to there are any number 
of authors wlio have become acquainted with these effects. 
In tliis regard Confucius wrote, " We very nearly resemble 
each other by nature; condition separates us very far." 
Adam Smith in his " Wealth of Nations " said " The differ- 
ences between the most dissimilar characters, between a 
philosopher and a common street porter for example, seem 
to arise not so much from nature as from habit, custom and 
education." Helvetius gives us the same thought, " We see 
in the same way that their (the citizens') elevation or their 
decline, their good fortune or misfortune are the products of 
a combination of circumstances." To all of this Henry 
George adds " The influence of heredity, which it is now the 
fashion to rate so highly is as nothing compared with the in- 
fluences which mould the man after he comes into the world." 
Give, then, the fact that circumstances are a power in deter- 
mining the success or failure of an individual his achievement 
or non-achievement, how is education to give man influence 
over this circumstance? The aim of education, that of giving 
man power over circumstance, may be accomplished in any one 
of the four different ways. First it will show him the achieve- 
ments of men during the past and tell him how these were 
accomplished. Secondly, it will show him what the achieve- 
ments of the immediate future will probably be by showing 
him the most pressing human needs. Thirdly it may by 
proper guidance through a series of protectionary and ex- 
perimental activities discover and develop his peculiar fit- 
ness for certain kinds of achievement. Last, but not least, 
education may show him how to acquire skill in the methods 
of endeavor and in the use of instruments so that he may 
achieve. 

While it is true that there are not a few achievements that 



The Nature and Aim of Education 41 

have brought much good to mankind and unlimited prom- 
inence to the individual who has been accredited with the 
achievement, still we do not hold that such men are truly 
great nor that their accidental discoveries are achievements 
in the true sense of the word. What is meant by achieve- 
ments are the accomplishments preconceived and sought by 
means fully known to the subject. In this sense, no mind, 
it matters not how potent the capacities are that are latent 
within it can either know the avenues of achievements, the 
value of it to himself or to his fellows, nor how he may get 
into the proper channel of activity without having a definite 
knowledge of what he wishes to do and how he may set to 
work to do it. For it is obvious that no man can intelli- 
gently set to work to pursue a given line of endeavor or re- 
search, much less can he decide to employ certain means in 
a given way when he does not know that the work is to be 
done, nor how he is to set out to do it. For as Leslie Ward 
well says, " There has been no discoverer so great in the 
world as to owe nothing to this circumstance (initial ac- 
quaintance with the given field of labor), none who might 
not have lived and died in the profoundest obscurity had 
not some external force first lifted him to the height, how- 
ever humble, from which he was able more or less clearly to 
overlook the field of his future labors ; none who had he 
chanced to live in another land or a prior age could have 
achieved results which he was enabled to achieve under the 
actual circumstances." But education aims to give all an 
equal chance to see what things in life have been done, Avhat 
are to be done, how they have been and may be done and to 
arouse the proper feeling necessary to enter upon them and 
push them on to their successful conclusion. After this the 
individual must act for himself. But this is just what, 
according to the premises that he is educated, he is both 
capable and desirous of doing. 

These then are some of the aims of education. It will be 
many a day before they will be attained. But they can con- 
stitute the goal toward which educational endeavor may be 
directed. Progress toward it will be slow and at times al- 
most imperceptible. Still there must be no faltering. The 



42 Education in Theory and Practice 

great forces of nature in mind and body never grow weary, 
never grow less. They issue constantly in action. Educa- 
tion must direct and control the progress of the human 
family. The aims for review we may sum up briefly here. 
They are: 

To prepare for self-preservation. 

To prepare for self-maintenance — gaining a livelihood. 

To prepare for self-recreation — rej)roduction parent- 
hood. 

To prepare for civic and social relationship. 

To prepare for cultured and refined living. 

To give equal opportunity to all to acquire knowledge and 
skill in the use of the material of the world. 

To give equal power over the circumstances of life and 
living. 

Many other aims of education might be mentioned here, 
but these are considered primary and as such sufficient here. 
With this we pass on to the nature and application of educa- 
tion. 

THE NATURE AND APPLICATION OF EDUCATION 
(b) THE NATURE OF EDUCATION 

In treating of the " Aim of Education " we saw certain 
phases of the problem of education that are to be traced 
directly to the nature of the thing to be dealt with in educa- 
tion, namely, the human mind. In the various forms of ad- 
justments to be attempted and made, in equalizing the oppor- 
tunity of all and in giving to all equal power of control over 
circumstances in all things in which education has to be at- 
tained, the question of its nature plays a prominent part. 
In education as understood here, we deal with the human 
mind and body, man as an organization. In the first place 
the mind comes into the world, limited in regard to the kind 
of education which it can take in, but besides being limited 
in the way it comes into the world, it is limited both in ca- 
pacity and the nature of its " educability " by the instincts 
and tendencies which is its by inheritance from the ancestral 
relic of racial experience now recorded in the structure of 
the descendants as racial history. The sense media of the 



The Nature and Aim of Education 43 

mind through which education is accomplished for example, 
are all predetermined and arranged and to a certain extent 
have their natural capacities in educational activity already 
limited. In like manner the bodily energy is restricted in 
quantity and its sources of supply between which and the 
power of action of the mind there is close and acute relation 
are likewise limited. The mind itself is restricted in its 
activity to material furnished by the senses and though it 
be granted that given this sense material as a basis, the dis- 
tance to which the mind may go is only distantly restricted, 
still all will admit that in its action it is limited and strictly 
so, to the material of the senses. By the nature of the mind, 
then, the nature of the adjustments, their limitations and 
possibilities, in education are definitely determined. Cer- 
tain extraneous elements and changed conditions enter at 
various times to change and check the process of education, 
others enter again to modify and increase it. Too, in the 
natural order of things mind bears a static as well as dynamic 
relation to mind. When either of these relations between 
minds change the process of education undergoes a change 
that retards it or advances it. We have just referred to 
static and dynamic states of mind, without destroying the 
correspondence we might also mention the inertia of mind. 
The inertia of mind affects the process of education every- 
where. All reformers and agitators among men will attest 
freely to the inertia of mind. In education we find it pre- 
sented chiefly in adherence to the old and the established 
order. The greatest problem of education is to arrest the 
direction and rate of motion in education and modify and 
change it into other directions. Minds like bodies tend to 
take the line of least resistance. Only in the case of mind 
this line of least resistance mostly becomes the line of great- 
est pleasure. It is strange sometimes to see what some minds 
call pleasure, but their lines of action in education is the 
line of greatest pleasure, either immediate pleasure or remote 
pleasure anticipated in the present. In the inertia of mind, 
however, we have an element, the element of choice, which 
does not enter, at least as intelligence, into the inertia of 
matter. Education would not have such a problem in the 



44 Education in Theory and Practice 

inertia of mind if it were not that it had to overcome the 
element of choice in arresting and changing the line and rate 
of motion. Fear, love, hate, envy, jealousy, etc., all enter 
to affect and either stay or deflect the mind. All of these 
education must overcome, if it is to achieve its end. Some 
show up at one place, time and under one circumstance, others 
at and under another, all of them however, are innately a 
part of education and its problems, all of them as such must 
be accepted and dealt with either individually or collectively, 
or both, by education. Because, then, of the nature of edu- 
cation, of the nature of the mind in education, there is much 
that it will have to overcome. In and through it all pa- 
tience, love, perseverance and effort must control if any- 
thing is to be accomplished. Some of the things which 
arise in education through its nature are the hindrances to 
which it is subject, its limits, the sources from which educa- 
tional opportunity must come, both direct and contributory 
and its relation to them. 

Hindrances to Education. Apart from the fact that edu- 
cation as a process must be repeated in the life history of 
each individual there are other influences that materially re- 
tard education either by misapplying the knowledge gotten 
or restricting the quantity and despoiling the quality of it. 
Because of such effects these are known as hindrances to 
education. Chief among these hindrances are tradition, su- 
perstition and prejudice. 

Tradition has always been a bane to advance thought and 
to progress in general. Its chief characteristic is that it 
lives exultingly but reverently in the past. Everything that 
looks to the future with its ceaseless changes tending to 
growth and progress is of necessity to be condemned. The 
dictum that the education of the fathers is ideal and all dis- 
position to turn from it or reach beyond it is wrong and 
should be assiduously crushed as leading to woe and destruc- 
tion, is its stronghold. It throttles individuality and chokes 
the spirit of investigation and research. How long tradi- 
tion held China and Japan in bondage is a fact of history 
too well known to all students to need mentioning here. Our 
own Southland is just beginning to overcome the retarding 



The Nature and Aim of Education 45 

effects of a tradition which it holds dear but which has for 
several decades held it bound to a past that was and is de- 
structive of much of the best that is in her and stifles all at- 
tempts to move upward in progress. The tradition of which 
many old families are proud and to some extent perhaps 
justly so is still a hindrance to advancement. Traditions 
are relics mostly of a neglected and forgotten past and out 
of time with the demands of the new and progressing present. 
Traditions are either negative or positive. Positive tradi- 
tions possess in them almost the sum total of that which is 
good in tradition. Negative traditions are generally hann- 
ful especially where they prevent the individual from meet- 
ing the legitimate demands made upon him by his day and 
generation. Most traditions are met in education as nega- 
tive effects either retarding the work of the school, modify- 
ing and changing it or in some rare cases successfully op- 
posing it. Sometimes they are met openly, sometimes they 
constitute a silent and secret but strong undercurrent re- 
active against education and educative progress. Positively 
they serve to bind us to tlie past and thereby prevent the fu- 
ture from running away with things. To this extent they 
are meritorious. Negatively they exclude change and 
thereby prevent progress. Their danger lies in their nega- 
tive attitude wherein is mental stagnation and death. 

Superstition. There are certain things demanded in our 
thought and action that are fundamental and that are de- 
manded by our very nature. If they are not given us through 
one source we create them for ourselves through other 
sources. Chief among these are the thought and action 
that cluster in and around the idea of causation. Next to 
the disposition to find a cause is the problem of finding out 
how these causes operate. 

In the discovery of these two things lies the beginning of 
all superstition. A cause for all manifestations the mind 
is under compulsion by nature to seek. If the legitimate, 
sufficient and final cause cannot be found, in its place will be 
substituted any cause which to that stage of development of 
the mind will be accepted as sufficient. The lower down the 
scale of intelligence we are the less do we know of real and 



46 Education in Theory and Practice 

efficient cause and the more are we compelled to accept sub- 
stitutes for them. But it is this tendency to accept substi- 
tutes for real but unknown causes that constitutes supersti- 
tion par excellence. The less we know of the true natural 
cause the more are we prone to offer instead causes that while 
artificial seem to us sufficient. The more superstitious we 
are, the more are we inclined to link phenomena with crude 
and insufficient causes. Not knowing the fundamental na- 
ture of things nor their laws of action we accept plausible 
explanations of causes without being able to detect their 
actual untenability. The earliest evidences of mind seem 
already to have ideas of world order regulated either by man, 
subman or superman. Where man does not appear as a 
sufficient cause the sub- or superman is accepted. With 
mind and superstition has come religion. The more super- 
stitious man is the more religious is he. The more super- 
stitious he is the more readily does he accept the superficial 
causes as explanation for the observed order. But if this 
were all, the problem of education would not be so difficult. 
The difficulty of the problem lies in the fact that superstitions 
soon become sacred, are absorbed in public morals and de- 
velop for themselves a strange zeal that not only antagonizes 
but often successfully defies education. To root out super- 
stition is always an early but sometimes slow and tedious 
process of education. For much that is sometimes called 
education is training in the nature of justification in tradi- 
tion. 

The subject matter given under hindrances to education 
would not be complete without including the mental state 
known as prejudice in them. In the light of education as a 
process tradition is bad, superstition worse, but prejudice 
is the worst of all of these especially in that it offers opposi- 
tion to the advance of knowledge through education. Preju- 
dice has little ps^'chological justification and perhaps less 
ps3'chological explanation. Few of us can account for its 
presence in our mental make up, we have it all of us who 
have mind, but just why or how, none can tell. It just seems 
to be a kind of natural bend in mind, now inclining to this 
line of tfiQUght anci action, now to that. It is just a mental 



The Nature and Aim of Education 47 

bias that seems to be present simply by the nature of our 
entire mental content, makes us think, feel and act in a cer- 
tain way without our learning why. In some it manifests 
itself in one way and in others in other ways. Its explana- 
tion lies probably in the fact that our mental life is influenced 
by our past experiences, the kind of habits of thought and 
action we have formed and the relating of our present 
thoughts and actions to our general well being. That is, 
what we think, how we think it and what we do is to a consider- 
able extent determined by our past experience and our habits. 
This is negative prejudice. This is not the difficult side of 
prejudice to education. In fact education can only succeed 
slowly with it in as much as it is also passive. It is the prej- 
udice that is active that is difficult but with which educa- 
tion must deal, the kind that is willful. Wliere one wills 
to take a certain view and hold it against opposition, decide 
that something is so and then rule out all evidence that would 
convince one to the contrary that is the attitude of mind 
that is dangerous. Here the problem of education is par- 
ticularly difficult. Such people are prejudiced to knowledge 
because they don't know and do not wish to know, in fact 
refuse to know. 

In education we have to do with all three, tradition, super- 
stition and prejudice and must seek to overcome them. 
Parents teeming with race and family tradition, resent any 
attempt on the part of the teacher to remove the idea from 
the child's mind. Being superstitious no one not one of them 
or not one who can win their confidence can successfully ap- 
peal to them. While on the other hand one who is of them 
will probably feel and think as they do about them and have 
little or no disposition to attempt their removal. If all such 
could maintain an open mind the education of them would be 
an easy matter. But first the wrong conception must be re- 
moved and the right one substituted. This is both a difficult 
and delicate task. Sometimes it is impossible to accomplish 
anything with the minds which entertain these thoughts. 
Then education can only succeed by working upon those minds 
into which they have not entered or having entered have little 
or no hold. In either case the task lies in so performing 



48 Education in Theory and Practice 

the operation as to retain the confidence of the subject. 
Each is married to his idol and clings tenaciously to it. The 
burden of education is to remove the old, win over to the 
new and give instruction in it. 

The Limits of Education. While education must begin 
anew with each individual the extent to which a person can 
be educated has never been determined. No person has ever 
been educated to the limit. Though if the mind is mortal 
there must be a limit to its capacity to those who hold the 
mind as immortal there will of necessity be no limit in this 
world to its capacity for knowledge. Knowledge when con- 
densed may be easily imparted. That which it has taken 
decades to discover or work out, the merest youth of to-day 
may learn fully and generally does learn in a few hours. Be- 
sides that knowledge is not spatial, nor is it restricted within 
spatial limits. Though the brain and body which contain the 
mind and furnish it with the media for gaining knowledge are 
spatial as well as temporal the mind itself is not by all so re- 
garded, and hence cannot necessarily be said to be limited 
in this way. Though since its media and abode are so limited 
it might be concluded that as far as this world is concerned 
the mind is limited likewise in its capacity for knowledge get- 
ting. From this view point, however, it can still be truth- 
fully said that no one has yet been educated to the fullest 
extent of his capacity. From this view point then at least 
theoretically, though every person has a limit in obtaining 
education, no such limit in practice has ever been reached. 
However, every person's capacity for education is limited 
only by the field of knowledge itself, the physical endurance 
of the individual in pursuing knowledge and his intellectual 
capacity for imbibing it coupled with the j^ears he spends in 
the process or the number of years in his normal waking life. 
The entire known field of knowledge has never been acquired 
by any human being to date, consequently the intellectual 
capacity of man has never been fully attained though in 
many cases the ph^^sical limitations by strain and excess has 
often been reached and passed. No teacher, therefore, need 



The Nature and Aim of Education 49 

fear that he will carry an individual beyond his capacity for 
knowledge. The danger lies more in the opposite direction 
— that the individual will not be educated at all up to the 
limits of his capacity. Too, there is some danger in ex- 
tensive education in one field to the neglect of it in other 
fields. Oftentimes in cases where practical knowledge is 
most necessary, because of fake standards and ideas of liv- 
ing, the practical is neglected for the liberal, the luxurious 
and the theoretical in education. Care should, however, be 
exercised always that the physical endurance of the individual 
which even in the strongest, is limited, be not over reached. 
Every now and then through this source local and general 
school processes come in for severe and oftentimes just criti- 
cism. The limitation of individuals in this capacity is al- 
ways a matter of serious concern to educators. 

Sources of Educational Opportwnity. Opportunity for 
education is given through three chief sources namely, the 
church, the state and society. Education looks to the uplift 
of humanity. That is originally and primarily the Church. 
Long before government as such was a clearly established in- 
stitution and the state itself as such had existence, the church 
as an ecclesiastical institution held sway over human des- 
tinies. What little systematic education there was existing 
among early people was under the control and direction of 
the church and generally offered exclusively to the officers 
of the church. All education then consisted of instructions 
in church lore and church literature. Even to-day among 
the savage and barbarous peoples and in some cases among 
civilized people the church through the clergy is the chief 
possessor and disseminator of extant knowledge. Not only 
has the church always possessed itself of all extant knowledge, 
but when the intellectual advancement of man seemed threat- 
ened with destruction and all forms of knowledge seemed 
abandoned to itself to perish the church gathered unto itself 
the precious truths of humanity and treasured them away, 
perpetuating them within itself until it could safely give 
them out again to the world. In this way in the troubled 
middle ages the church was exclusively the educational in- 



60 Education in Theory and Practice 

stitution and remained so for centuries. Finally as church 
and state separated, the state took on a certain phase of 
education and disseminated it, until to-day the phases of 
education given out by the church are in many instances at 
variance with that of the state. Too, most of the educational 
institutions to which the state had access were under the direct 
control of the church. The oldest schools in this country 
were established by denominations and many of our present 
colleges and universities owe their origin and present sup- 
port to ecclesiastical organizations. However, the tendency 
at present is toward educational opportunity furnished by 
the state and state institutions are already eclipsing so-called 
churcli schools in size, support and patronage. 

The church's real interest in education and its chief claim 
to prominence in education is because of the moral influence 
it wields thereby. In periods of unrest and disturbance 
the church has always acted as a bulwark of human rights 
and liberties, however crudely conceived. By its possession 
of knowledge it has served to direct, guide and hold in check 
rebellious natures. This is the church's justification in of- 
fering to the world opportunity for education. 

As the state advanced in civilization (knowledge) and the 
church and state grew apart, in the resulting conflict of au- 
thority and rights the state was forced to provide an edu- 
cation of its own for itself. At first the education diff^ered 
but slightly from that off*ered by the church and statesmen 
were chiefly churchmen. Gradually the breach between 
church and state in political education widened. In this 
condition defense from foreign and domestic enemies caused 
the state to feel keenly the need of supervising the education 
of its citizens. The value of this was exemplified by Sparta, 
Athens and Rome. When in the Middle Ages the power of 
the papal See spread over nearly all Christendom, state educa- 
tion fell somewhat into disuse. But with the break between 
church and state during the Revival of Learning in the 15th 
century state education came again gradually into use. To- 
day state institutions of learning greatly predominate in 
Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe and America. 



The Nature and Aim of Education 51 

EDUCATION AS RELATED TO GOVERNMENTAL 
INSTITUTIONS 

The state is dependent for its existence upon the quality 
and nature of its citizenship. Consequently the question of 
education and educational opportunity is with the state a 
serious one. Each state offers the kind of educational op- 
portunity that will best serve its existing political institu- 
tions. Hence the educational opportunity offered by the 
various states will vary as their political institutions and the 
civic responsibilities they imply, vary. In absolute mon- 
archies education will differ from that offered by a limited 
monarchy and both of these will differ in many essential de- 
tails from that offered by various republics. The less the 
civic responsibility and participation in government allowed 
under a given form of government the less is the demand for 
general or popular education. Conversely, the greater the 
civic responsibility and participation in government granted 
a people under a given form of government the greater is the 
demand for a citizenship enlightened through education. 
Especially is this true in republics where the successful main- 
tenance of stable government and the perpetuation of its 
various institutions of the state devolves directly upon its 
citizenship. So that while the tendency to-day is toward 
state fostered schools, this tendency is greatest among re- 
publics and decreases proportionately as the form of govern- 
ment diverges or perhaps better recedes in form from that of 
a republic. In monarchies whether limited or unlimited state 
education is not extensive where the reins of government are 
under the control of certain groups of citizens by heredity 
and the masses though in the majority are delegated but little 
participation in the government. In those governments 
where the masses are intended for service, their education is 
correspondingly an education for service and indeed for 
that kind of service which the governing wish the governed 
to render. Our education is an education for service too 
but unlike the service referred to above, our education pre- 
pares for voluntary service with opportunity given to all 
for complete freedom of action and achievement. What 



fiS 



/•'(hicdtioii ill 'I'licoii/ a ml I'lticlicr 



•st'iN ice one rriidtrs lo tlic hody ms h \\||(»Ic is dtl cnniiKMl by 
coiulilion mikI llir use of o|)|i(>i'l unit v niid iiol hv Hir srlfisli 
mid |)i«' )iidu-ial whim ol" I lie /^oNcniiii;;-. 

l-'.(li(iiili(iii hji Sdc'kiI Colli tut. Tilt' cdiiidl ioiml ()|)|)or- 
luiiity wliicli socitly oirtrs is diircrciit rioiii citlicr of llu« 
lw(» d«'scril)('d nhovc. II «l()<s iiol come uiidcr llic licnd of 
cdiic.'i I Kill III lis mnrtiw or scIioImsI ic sense liiil heloiiji^-s rather 
lo ediicMlioii ill ils hrond sense. Since soeiely CMine before 
I lu> eliiirch (oilier views iiol w il lisl andiii/r lo jhe (•()nlrjirv) 
or lh»> slale, liie ediicalional opporl unil v ollVred by soeiely 
in ilself is |tiiiiiai\ and fiiiidaiiieiit al. Oilier e(hirationuI 
o|>|)()il uiul i«'s are o\\\\ valuable as Ihev approxiiimle thoso 
oll'ered by sociely. Iaft> is inleiided lo be lived with our fel- 
lows and we can only lixt- Willi them successfully by kiiowin<^ 
llieiii. It is true that much of the kiiowledi^je <raiiied by ceii- 
luries of e\|>erience is now tabulated and preservt-d in book 
form to be learned in schools, but there is also iiiuch thai, 
however well it may l>c understood in theory, cannot be 
Jearnc'd except by direct contact with our fellows. The echi- 
cational opportunity oU'ered by sociely is llu' true one, knowl- 
«>dne leaiiu'd tbroiii;b it the true knowl(>d<;-e. Hesides llu> op- 
porlunitv thus oll"er(-d is with us duriny; all t)f our noniml 
wakiii;;- hours. II is I he real and I rue ediicalional op[»or- 
luiiity. 

l-'.(liiiiiti(>ii(il Si/st(iiis iiiid Xdt'u'iiitl Ididls. National ideals 
and national educational systems bear rci'iprocal rebifiou- 
ships. Tlu> one «h'ttM-niines tlu' other and I h(> other renets 
upon anil modilies llu- one. In such demoi'fai-ies as tllO 
I'nited Stales, Ura/il, I''raiice, or Switzerland where it is n 
fuiulaiiiental assumption of <;-overnnienl that every i-itizen is 
I'apabK' tif p;ii! uip.il ion in <;«)veniiiu>nt and each one is 
^uaraiit»H-d «'(nial ri;;hts iiiuK-r the law in adniinisti'riiiij;' the 
law, the natnMial ideal «)f i^overniiuMit is retlectt'd in llu> lui- 
tion.al cdiu'a I ioiial ideal. In sui'li laiuks popular education 
IS llu" rule, while I'lass edtu'.'ilion if CMsliiii;- ;i t all owi-s its be- 
iiii;- to pii\ale iiideaxor. ("i\ ic ilutics diaiiand enliijbtinent. 
It is nei'«>ssary heri> that eai'ii i-iti/iMi receiv(> tlu> fullest eibica- 
tional di'velopiiUMit possiblt\ \ ii;ilaiu"i> in <;"overnnient ijainetl 
tlinnii;h proper i-diu-ation is llu' surest ineans of perpi-tuat- 



'I'lu; N (I lure aiul Ami of Education 53 

jn/^ (Jc;ir)0(;ra(;i<;.s, L'lui'iUd and unliiiiiicfJ nioiiurrliicK iji l.lio 
hands of an electorate are under like neeessity to «u()|>ly full 
of)j)orliiriif,y for ediicul.ion fo tliose cwrr.'iHin^ hijcIi ri/^lil,s 
of ^ovcr'nMKril.. In uhsoliilc monurfliicH wlicrc flic nalional 
idc-alw eluHlcr around a f<'W, llx- ruling clasH, nnd wlicjc liny 
iU-\H'tHi for llicir Micccssfiil jxrpctiiation ujj«jn lliis cias.s, 
elasH (•dii(;al irj/i in /rcricral is liniib-d afid adapted eliiefly lo 
tlicin, vvliih- llic masses arc either poorly taught or untaught 
in the dulies i/ivolvcd in rivie rcj/itifniHhips, l''or to t(;a(;h 
till-Ill freely in governnieni i/i any form vv(juld destroy the 
nati(inal ideal, thus involving eilhcr the dcslruction or mf)di- 
firalion of the various insi itiit ions of the state. Russia and 
Turkey would well rej>reseril eounlne.s wlieic natlfjnal ifh-alH 
ar(; clearly opp(^sed to (lopiilar edijcalioji with the frcr-doin 
of life and action that accf)mj)anies. While \f>rway, Sweden, 
Italy, (jcrm.'uiy and lOngland are rejiriscntativcH of eonsti- 
tutional limited monarchies, when; [Mjfiular education tn gen- 
eral and highly disseminated. Afjart from thewe ge/ieral re- 
lations of national ideals in government anrl society which an; 
reflected in tlie educalional irieals of a country the natirjuai 
ideals are in others even more exf>licitly re[>reHented in the 
educational ideals, Jn America, for instance,', civic and so- 
cial service is the national ideal to the successful attainment 
of which all of our ediicnt ional forces are most intensely hent. 
With lis tin; educational system in its entirety is devoted to 
teaching the me/nhers (d" the fjody p'>lific and of society \k)W 
best to adjust tliems('lv«;s to tli<fir «.'nvironment afid how hest 
to servi! their fellows t-vcn in th<.' broadest and most general 
r< Iationslii[)S. TIk; luiglish ideal Irxjks less to social r(;la- 
lionship and the n-sponsihilities of govr^rnrnent and more 
fo the fireaiiofi of certain national ty[)es and chara(rteristics 
of the- peojile, so much so as to \u- easily notic(;fl ev«'n to th<; 
point of making them aj)pear clannish, and to the establish- 
ing of constant adjustment and read just nient fo the (existing 
social orrler. Among the (iermans the social order arul char- 
acteristic typ<- is forced rven furtli<;r into the background 
and thr? chief stress of Cierman education is [)laced upon the 
attainment of commf.rcial advantage. 'J'o this tful th<; (ier- 
rnan youth even Ix-fore maturity is taught the laws of corn- 



64 Education in Theory and Practice 

merce and sent to spread German wares in the distant parts 
of tlie earth. Another form of German education fostered 
by the national ideal and now become traditional is its edu- 
cation for specialization and research. This ideal has so 
absorbed the minds of educators and so worked the ideal to 
the exclusion of all else that is vital in education that it has 
considerably weakened its force. Specialization in educa- 
tion has been carried almost to excess. The German parent 
chooses the career for his son, which is to a considerable extent 
determined by his social caste, and sends him along this line of 
special education long before the American youth is even told 
of the divergence in work that is to come and his mind pre- 
pared to accept the specialized education that he or his 
parents will choose for him to pursue some six or eight or 
even ten years after the German youth is into his course. 

In France the educational ideal is for specialization and 
research, but not to the extent that it is among the Germans, 
while the ideal of commercialism is supplanted by the ideal of 
social and political supremacy. Turning from here to the 
ancients, the Jews, a religious people, fostered an educa- 
tional ideal that was a religion, to the working out and per- 
petuation of which all of their social, political and educa- 
tional institutions were devoted. The Chinese education was 
a blind worship of the past and their social, political and 
educational institutions allied them with this past until stag- 
nation set in putting China centuries behind the countries 
of to-day in practical and material advancement. 

REFERENCE READING 

Bain's " Education as a Science." Chap. I. 
White's " Elements of Pedagogy.'' Introduction. 
Compayre's " Psychology Applied to Education." Chap. I. 
McKeever's " Psychologic Method in Teaching." Chap. I. 
Roark's " Psychology in Education." Introduction. 
Keith's " Tilementary Education." Chap. II. 
Putnam's " A Manual of Pedagogics." Chap. I. 



CHAPTER III 
KINDS OF EDUCATION 

According to the traditional view there are fundamentally 
three kinds of education. This division has arisen from the 
time worn custom of dividing the mind into the two faculties 
of knowing and feeling (this latter including within itself 
what we know as willing), and the habit of treating the body 
as essentially related to mind because of which relation 
mind is dependent upon body in such a manner that the edu- 
cation of one involves the training and control of the other. 
Hence two of these kinds of education deal with the develop- 
ment of the mind, the other with that of the body. This 
method of classification gives us intellectual education, moral 
education and physical education. Intellectual education 
aims to develop and strengthen the mind, and to exercise the 
intellectual faculties in acquiring, using and adding to the 
various forms of extant positive knowledge. Moral educa- 
tion aims to develop and strengthen the will and through 
it the heart (the natural capacity for feeling in its various 
forms) and to exercise and develop the will in controlling 
the bodily and mental activities and to conform them to the 
demands of the individual life and of the social life. Physical 
education aims on the other hand to prepare us to develop 
and strengthen the body. 

Apart from these traditional divisions of education the 
march of modern science and the increased acuteness of 
modern thought and reflective processes, together with the 
development of the new science of physiological psychology 
has led to a more detailed division of the phases or kinds 
of education. To these three original kinds of education 
the changes of educational forms and systems have added 
still others. To physical education there has been added 
physiological education more as a coordinate than as a sub- 

55 



56 Education in Theory and Practice 

ordinate field to physical education. In like manner but as 
involving a separate field from moral education, esthetical 
and religious education have appeared. While the general 
tendency to popularize education now prevalent in all of the 
advanced and liberal countries from a governmental view- 
point and to make it democratic (useful to all classes) has 
led to the introduction of those forms of education known as 
industrial education, vocational and commercial education. 
Somewhat overlapping these and yet sufficiently distinct 
from them to permit of consideration here there might be 
added to the list already given to make the above analysis 
more complete, practical and theoretical education. 

We find, then, upon detailed analysis that we have ten dif- 
ferent kinds of education, to each of which we will devote a 
few brief paragraphs by way of explanation and discussion. 

1. Physiological Education. In the reaction against the 
asceticism of medieval times, the body instead of being as 
heretofore despised as the seat of evil and the source of sin 
and corruption in man and an unfit temple for the indwelling 
of the immortal spirit of man and accordingly mutilated, mal- 
treated, scourged and its normal functions with its appetites 
suppressed that the soul might be freed as soon as possible 
from its earthly home of clay, became a source of respectful 
consideration and consequent study until in the eyes of all 
it grew into an object of pride and lofty regard. This feel- 
ing grew apace until it was given new life by the educational 
theories of the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries, 
wherein the true relation of body and mind was first seen 
and appreciated, though even then but dimly. Since Her- 
bert Spencer turned his trenchant pen upon the subject of 
education physiological education has been a prominent part 
of all educational systems and the subject has been a prom- 
inent part of the curricula of all educational institutions. 
The " don'ts " of the nursery and kindergarten followed later 
by the effective prohibition of the tendency to abuse and over- 
tax the stomach resulting from the insatiable desires of dis- 
torted appetites are all forms of physiological education. 
Most of these have been embodied in book forms and are noAV 
taught in the school as regular part of the curriculum. In 



Kinds of Education 57 

the lower grade schools this takes the forms of talks on 
" the care of the Body," " How to obtain and maintain a 
healthy Body," " the Vital organs and their functions," 
" The value of food and exercise," etc., accompanied later on 
in the higher grades by the use of distinctive texts on Hy- 
giene and Physiology. In the higher grades of the public 
schools this is followed by a more minute and analytical study 
of the organs of the body, the nature of their functions, their 
relations to health and growth and how they may be properly 
cared for. In the secondary and higher institutions of learn- 
ing physiological education is gained through the study of 
anatomy and its many related subjects — the so-called phy- 
siological sciences. Though in these latter there is much less 
of hygiene than is learned in the more elementary forms of 
the physiological sciences. Physiological education includes 
the teaching of how to prepare food and balanced rations, how 
to chew and masticate food, how and in what quantities to 
take food and exercise, when to rest, etc. By this the value 
of it as a form of education is at once seen and appreciated. 

Apart from this form of physiological education, in the 
higher courses in advanced institutions of learning is to be 
found as a practically newcomer in the field of the natural 
sciences, the science of physiological psychology — the rela- 
tion of the bodily processes to the functioning of the brain. 
This form of physiological education is very valuable to the 
study of the processes of mental education and has given 
much needed explanations of conditions and problems that 
were a source of inconvenience and obstruction to educa- 
tional processes in general, but for which no sufficient remedy 
had thus far been found. When physiological psychology 
made its advent upon the scene it gave new facts and added 
new zest to physiological education in general and showed 
in a way never before known what proper physiological edu- 
cation means to the bodily and mental welfare of a people. 
The value of certain food values as shown by dietetics have 
all given increased impetus and strength to physiological 
education. 

The importance of physiological education forms a marked 
contrast to the astonishing neglect of it by many schools 



58 Education in Theory and Practice 

and most parents. In the case of the human body a few 
ounces of prevention is indeed better than many pounds of 
cure. Intemperance in physiological habits and ignorance of 
the simplest laws of health combined with indifference toward 
and neglect of the few laws of health that we may happen 
to have learned is the sorrowful explanation of most human 
ills. The fearful percentage of infant mortality and the 
alarming presence of such bodily ailments as constipation, 
and dyspepsia with their hosts of related ailments, colds, con- 
sumption, catarrh, fevers and the other myriads of human 
maladies are chiefly traceable either to a lack of or general 
disinterest in, the dissemination of physiological education. 
Here ignorance is a withering curse that spreads misery 
and woe everywhere, which like a blighting frost in the night 
falls upon the innocent and unoffending and nips off the 
young buds long before they have approached the season 
of flower and fruit. The burden that present day economic 
problems force upon the successful man necessitates care of 
the body as never before. With this burden upon him he can 
little afford the physiological handicap of overfeeding, un- 
derfeeding or irregular feeding and in fact he can afford 
no kind of irregularity in habits. In the time of epidemics, 
pestilences and scourges proper habits of bathing and of rest- 
ing are of as much importance as physicians' medicines and 
druggists' disinfectants. To be fully effective then, physio- 
logical education would involve a training in the feeding, 
cleansing and clothing of the body together with a knowledge 
of the proper care of the internal organs assisting in the vital 
processes and their relations to and dependence one upon 
the other. In formal educational processes this is attained 
by instructions in physiology, hygiene, anatomy and its 
allied natural sciences, and still more recently by the intro- 
duction of courses in domestic economy, domestic science and 
household arts, but more especially through the domestic sci- 
ence courses. 

Physical Education. Physical education and physio- 
logical education have much in common. The fact that gen- 
erally what little writers have to say about physiological 
education they include under physical education will serve 



Kinds of Education 59 

to show that the conception of them as identical or nearly so 
is quite common. Hence the lines drawn here may not seem 
justifiable, nor even acceptable, to all. However, granting 
all or even part of what is said under the one may be in- 
cluded under the other, there are still good reasons based 
on fact for separating them, and the conception of them as 
distinct is both clear and logical. For at bottom all of the 
forms of education are closely inter-related and consequently 
much of what is said under one head might oftentimes with 
reasonable clearness be included under the other. However 
there is a justifiable distinction as the facts present will 
show. 

The current dictum that each generation grows weaker 
and wiser seems to bear the test of scientific analysis. Scien- 
tific study has disclosed the fact that the life span is steadily 
growing less than the accepted thirty-three years and also 
that in stature and endurance man is smaller and weaker 
than even his near ancestors. While this is partly explained 
by the demands that the strenuous life of to-day is making 
upon our bodies, it is also partly due to the fact that physical 
education is not keeping pace with intellectual education. In 
ancient times physical education was a prominent part, in- 
deed the most prominent part with some countries, of all 
education. Oftentimes as among the Greeks (especially 
among the men of Sparta and Lacedemonia ) and the Romans 
it became the all absorbing part. Later under the stress of 
other social and civic problems it was gradually neglected 
until under the influence of the stoic and later the ascetic 
of medieval times it was entirely lost sight of or neglected in 
matters of education, and only comparatively recently did 
it appear again and gradually assume a place of steadily 
increasing prominence in the modern schemes of education. 

The need of the body for exercise as well as rest, food, 
cleansing and clothing has always been more or less tacitly 
implied when not indeed overtly stated. The general assump- 
tion however, has been that this demand was not as impera- 
tive as others and could be supplied without any special pro- 
vision for it in school systems and educational institutions. 
For this reason while nearly every school has been indis- 



60 Education in Theory and Practice 

criminately provided with playgrounds, comparatively few 
schools have provided themselves with the means of systematic 
physical instruction. The fact that we are born with 
physical defects as well as mental, and that we cannot " just 
grow up " physically any more so than mentally is being 
finally though tardily appreciated by those who are clothed 
with the authority and charged with the responsibility of 
looking after and providing for matters educational. Even 
after much discussion and agitation the best that has been 
attained along these lines in formal education is generally 
physical training, carried on by means of gymnastics and 
calisthenics in rather restricted quarters, and during very 
limited periods of time. In higher institutions of learning 
it is somewhat better. For example, in this country prac- 
tically every college and university of any consequence has 
its gymnasium, which is in charge of a physical director, 
wherein the students are given physical entrance examina- 
tions and classified according to their various physical abili- 
ties and shortcomings and these either developed or over- 
come and removed. To what extent and on what scale 
physical education is being conducted in these institutions 
one can only know by either visiting one of them or by read- 
ing carefully prepared illustrated descriptions of the courses 
outlined and the work done. There are classes in physical 
education organized with practical exercises for the devel- 
opment of the eye, ear, nose, throat, lungs, stomach, the 
back, kidneys, neck, chin, face, limbs (arms, hands, fingers, 
legs, feet, toes). Also courses for the development of the 
body as a whole such as exercises to produce symmetry in 
form, beauty of figure and grace in movement, are offered 
to all who need them as the regular accompaniment of the 
other regular courses, literary, technical, professional and 
vocational. In the public school, of course, not so much 
has been done or can be done both on account of the general 
purpose of the public school and the nature of the duty 
which it aims to perform for the citizenship as a whole. 

However, in the public schools of those cities where the 
problem of physical education has been given an attempted 
solution the issue is met sometimes in pretty much the same 



Kinds of Education 61 

manner as is done in the colleges and universities. But more 
often it only approaches it as nearly as the means at hand 
will permit. Where means for physical education are want- 
ing the problem is met as best it can be. In those places 
where the presence of funds permit there are physical di- 
rectors and assistants provided by the authorities, who visit 
the schools, and give exercises in calisthenics calculated to re- 
move the strain of the mental educational processes and at 
the same time to improve the body. Because of the rela- 
tion which this kind of education is seen to bear to the 
other forms of education, and in the important place which 
it has come to occupy in our educational processes, many 
school boards are requiring the teachers to prepare them- 
selves to teach some form of physical education in their 
schools, indoors when necessary and out of doors when the 
weather will permit, offering this as the nearest and best 
substitute for a physical education which their limited means 
will allow them to furnish. In those cases in which the 
physical education is conducted on a technical scale, the 
physical directors are assisted in their work by examining 
physicians whose duties it is to visit the various schools 
and examine the students for evident physical defects and 
recommend for them the appropriate forms of physical 
training. In many cases here, too, the work has been carried 
sufficiently far to be graded and to extend with the grades 
throughout the school course. 

But physical education par excellence is carried on in 
American Schools by that system of training provided for 
now by all secondary schools and schools of higher learning 
under the name of athletics. This form of physical educa- 
tion has become a fine art in many American institutions, 
so much so that it has called the attention of the world to 
that particular phase of our work and in many instances 
national governments abroad are sending representatives 
to us to study and master our athletic systems for the pur- 
pose of having them introduced and taught in their respec- 
tive countries. In many cases athletics like many other 
popular things have been carried to excess soon thereafter 
to fall into disfavor and in a few cases even into disuse. Here 



62 Education in Theory and Practice 

oftentimes the claim is justly made that the process is car- 
ried to too great a degree of specialization and this also at 
too great a sacrifice of time and money. Another strong 
objection to the American method of athletic training as a 
fitting substitute for phjsical education is that the former 
system is too highly selective and, as such, benefits only 
those few who possess rare ability and power of endurance 
in a given line, these being used for purposes of inter-schol- 
astic competitive tests and exhibitions, to the neglect and 
even complete exclusion of the remaining major part of the 
student body. Apart from these objections however, which 
have some foundation in truth, it must be said that much of 
the sturdy American manhood and power for strenuous ac- 
tivity which has become a national characteristic and an in- 
ternational social asset and which is a joy to every true 
hearted American may be traced directly to our competitive 
system of school, college and university athletics, — football 
in the fall, basket ball, indoor baseball and hocky in the 
winter, with baseball, handball, rowing, golf and tennis in 
the spring, which with a host of minor games added to the 
group and strung out through the school and calendar year 
make up the whole. On the other hand the gymnasium 
and every form of athletic sport as fostered and supported by 
the school authorities are absent from the systems of Europe, 
though calisthenics and other forms of physical education 
in the public schools of Europe are much the same as in 
America. In fact in some cases, especially in the public 
schools, much of the European method has been adopted in 
the larger American city schools. The gymnastics and 
calisthenics systems are developed to their best in some of the 
countries of Europe for mass training in the open air. At 
the head of such countries perhaps stands Switzerland where 
in some of the cantons the whole able bodied male population 
having been trained in the schools during their school days 
join on festal occasions in physical drills in groups of a 
thousand or more. Closely following the lead of Switzerland 
in this kind of physical education come Norway and Sweden. 
In America the college hero is " the mighty athletic warrior," 
the champion of his school in many " gory " contests. In 



Kinds of Education 63 

Germany he is a great beer drinker and saber fighter (duel- 
list). In France he is a great wine "bibber" and saber 
fighter, while in England he wins his right to the title by his 
prowess in cricket, football (association) and tennis. 

The demand for a physical education is quite generally 
recognized and in most cases proper provision made for it by 
those charged with the responsibility in such matters. In 
only a few cases, however, is the real need of physical educa- 
tion for the growing child fully understood by the masses of 
the people. The physical strain upon the ordinary child 
in performing the duties of the daily school routine is severe. 
Much more severe than many teachers and parents realize. 
Occasionally this fact is brought forcibly to our notice by 
an extreme case of suffering, sickness and even rarely by a 
death. But we pass even these flagrant cases by without 
more than a passing thought, little imagining that the situa- 
tion may be brought home to us at any time by a similar 
case. The strenuous activity necessary for success in mod- 
ern life puts an ever increasing strain upon men of the 
world. The growing intensity of competition taxes the 
energies of both young and old to an ever increasing de- 
gree. Indeed so great has this strain become that its weak- 
ening and destructive effects are now traceable into the life 
and powers of the younger generation. The children of to- 
day are born weaker, more nervous and emaciated than those 
of former generations. On the other hand this weaker con- 
stitution received through heredity is called upon to bear 
even greater strain than that of the older generation. The 
curriculum of the school is steadily increasing both in the 
number of subjects and in the degree of complexity of the 
treatment in the texts used. Under this strain the youth- 
ful body unprepared at the start and with poor and meager 
opportunities for physical education must of necessity weaken 
and in time break down under the strain. One need but visit 
the schools of the congested districts of our large cities to 
see the effect of this neglect of physical training upon the 
youth. Pale and worn faces everywhere meet the gaze and 
investigation shows the fearful prevalence of headaches, con- 
stipation and dyspepsia. In boarding schools this condition 



64 Education in Theory and Practice 

is generally intensified. In both of these there are occasional 
breakdowns, nervous prostration and sometimes fevers. 
Mind and body are so related that this fearful strain on mind 
soon shows on the body and the bodily functions, resulting 
ultimately in producing a weaker and in every way physically 
an inferior generation. The law of Lamarck that use of 
organs strengthens, disuse impairs, and abuse destroys, cer- 
tainly holds good here. The only remedy for this condition 
of strain and over exertion is to balance it by proper physical 
development induced through a proper physical education. 

Most of what has been said about the provisions for phys- 
ical education, especially athletics and gymnastics applies 
chiefly to physical education for boys. Strange to say that 
those who are most in need of physical education by their 
very nature and social responsibility — girls — are given 
the least consideration and opportunity to obtain this kind 
of education. One of the most serious traditions inherited 
from the past and most obstructive to progress in this mat- 
ter is the idea that girls should be brought up delicate and 
weak. Though much has been accomplished in overcoming 
this traditional idea and much is still being done to break 
the fetters of this dangerous tradition, the girls and women 
of the race still suffer woefully from the restraint upon them 
in indulging in the various forms of physical and bodily ex- 
ercise, a restraint maintained almost solely through an un- 
justifiable and even maudlin sentiment. It is surprising to 
see how strong and widespread is this sentiment. Women 
and men otherwise advanced and liberal in thought are 
narrow and biased in this one particular. Mothers and 
teachers who will witness with deep pleasure the health and 
vigor of a growing boy, obtained through unrestrained in- 
dulgence in pla}"^, will throw up their hands in horror at the 
very thought of a daughter indulging in any kind of active 
physical exercise in any way so violent or intense. Still, 
let it be said with pleasant and cheerful expectation of its 
constant extension that a counter sentiment has been awak- 
ened and has already done much for the benefit of our girls. 
Many schools for girls nowadays are equipped with gym- 
nasiums and physical directors and in many co-educational 



Kinds of Education 65 

institutions the girls share the gymnasiums equally with the 
boys, generally having access to its equipment during cer- 
tain parts of the day or on certain days during the Aveek, 
at which time under the watchful care of a properly trained 
attendant their physical education is looked after. The 
physical education of women is however chiefly cultural, con- 
sisting of gymnastics, calisthenics and exercise in dancing, 
walking and sometimes in advanced courses in rowing and 
fencing. More recently many out door games have been 
opened to them such as basket-ball, tennis, golf, etc. in Avhich 
in some cases they have gained prowess equal to men and 
compete with them ably in open contests. A very recent 
custom to open to them in many sections interscholastic 
competitive contests has been inaugurated, thus adding a 
purpose, zest and spirit to their efforts in gaining physical 
power through physical education. Where gymnasiums 
could not be had open air gymnastics and calisthenics have 
been provided for the girls until to-day the sentiment is pretty 
strong for a physically well developed womanhood to keep 
pace with our sturdy manhood. 

Industrial Education. In the trend toward popular gov- 
ernment, popular education and democratic institutions, new 
forms of education have been introduced to meet the new 
responsibilities of new civic and social relations and to create 
new opportunity for the masses. To meet these new de- 
mands manual training schools, vocational schools, industrial 
schools and agricultural and mechanical colleges have been 
established. In America the industrial school is a popular 
form of the technical school which has become general in 
the public school systems of Europe as trade schools. In 
many European countries the system of apprentices is still 
in vogue where the youth are bound out as artisans under 
stipulated conditions that they may learn the given trade 
or profession. With us the technical school was the first 
to appear. Later in reaction against the theoretical and 
abstract education of our public schools and institutions of 
higher learning there was created after considerable agita- 
tion a demand for a more practical education. The Sloj^d 
system of manual training was first introduced from Scan- 



66 Education in Theory and Practice 

dinavia and later on this movement was extended to include 
various trades. A particularly strong demand for this kind 
of education was created by the emancipation of the Negro 
sl.aves of the South. To meet this demand Hampton Insti- 
tute was started as an experiment by Major Armstrong. 
Out of it grew Tuskegee. Both of these proved their prac- 
tical value and usefulness until to-day there are many such 
schools throughout the country, but chiefly in the South 
daily proving their worth by the kind of training they give 
and the product they put out. The aim of this work was 
originally for the Negro. But in the agitation and spread 
of it among them the general value of such education to the 
entire American citizenship was soon seen and the agitation 
for such schools increased in scope until it included a scheme 
for schools of this kind for whites as well as for blacks until 
now opportunities for industrial and vocational education 
is offered almost everywhere in the larger cities of the coun- 
try. In many cities such as Philadelphia, Boston, Pitts- 
burg, St. Louis, these manual training schools are the pride 
of the school sj^stem and the attendance at North East 
Manual Training High School, Philadelphia, is greater than 
quarters Avill allow for accommodation. Maryland has taken 
the lead among the states in this movement and has a state 
educational fund available for the conducting of such work 
in all of the public schools of the states. The providing 
of means of the teaching of this kind of work is made com- 
pulsory on the part of school authorities, the failure to 
provide such opportunity being penalized by the loss of the 
pro rata portion of the state fund for such work. On the 
other hand attempts to introduce such work in the schools 
have in many places met with serious and successful opposi- 
tion. Buildings put up and equipped and teachers employed 
have often been idle and attendance poor until in some cases 
the movenment had to be abandoned through lack of popular 
support. In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, such conditions ex- 
isted. The custom has been introduced in most sections 
of exhibiting at the close of each school year the work done 
by the pupils in the public schools under the head of manual 
training. These exhibitions have always proved interesting 



Kinds of Education 6*7 

and instructive. Besides serving to win over the opponents 
of this kind of education to its cause, the exliibition itself is 
generally a source of agreeable surprise at the degree of 
efficiency and skill which the students show that they have 
gained during the brief hours of training and the meager 
opportunity and equipment for the work. It seems to fall 
short of the work of the commercial world only in point of 
speed in production. Some of it is so fine in its evidence 
of v,'orkmanship, mastery of detail and evidence of skill in 
tool manipulation that we can hardly believe that tlie objects 
made were the work of boys in their early " teens." In 
the manual training schools the work is never pursued to the 
points of a finished course, but merely offers a kind of intro- 
duction to the work and this only in its lighter and simpler 
forms. In the industrial and vocational schools the aim is to 
put out a finished mechanic who in speed and skill is able to 
compete successfully with the practical artisans in the vari- 
ous fields of labor. Hence in these schools more time is 
spent in the work with better equipment and the working 
conditions are more conducive to the results desired. Many 
industrial and vocational schools endeavor in their trades 
offered to cover much of the field of the general trades and 
handicrafts. 

As a result of this same demand for industrial and vo- 
cational education, engineering and mining schools, where 
electrical, mechanical and civil engineering and courses in 
mining and metallurgy are taught, have been established in 
various places (instance the Roller School of Mines in Mis- 
souri, and the State Schools of Mines in Oklahoma and Colo- 
rado). In supplying this same demand agricultural schools, 
tlie present agricultural and mechanical colleges, have been 
started in nearly every state in the union. How large a 
gap this form of education fills in our educational S3^stems 
and how strong the tendency toward it is, is shown by the 
wonderful popularity, magnificent financial support and 
large attendance which these institutions enjoy. The agri- 
cultural and mechanical colleges have become even more popu- 
lar since to break up the constantly increasing congestion 
in cities with its disease, poverty and crime, " back to the 



68 Education in Theory and Practice 

farm " movements have been inaugurated both by private 
individuals and by the local, county, state and national gov- 
ernments. To work up interest and enthusiasm along this 
line where opportunities to go to school cannot be accepted, 
government experts go conducting " moving schools." Rail- 
roads have recently joined this form of educational work 
and " agricultural trains " manned with expert instructors 
by the state and supplied with large exhibits make annual 
tours from city to city, also to toAvn and hamlet and give 
expert instruction as a supplement to the agricultural edu- 
cation of the public school and the more especially equipped 
higher institutions for such training. All of these schools 
and movements represent one more step in the present day 
trend from the abstract, impractical and valueless in education 
to the concrete, practical and valuable. They fulfill a demand 
only recently realized and appreciated but which has proved 
to be amazing in scope and relation. It is a welcome sight 
under the near democratic education to walk into a school, 
where alongside of the much decried but still valuable Latin 
and Greek and abstract sciences and the less objectionable 
but still highly cultural French and German, one may gaze 
upon the happily engaged classes in domestic science, house- 
hold arts and home economics ; or in the more remote parts of 
perhaps the same building amid the whirr and buzz of ma- 
chinery, that give the school the air of the busy industrial 
world, to see the classes in woodwork, machine work and 
smithwork all alive and with a step and bodily movements 
keyed to the rush of machinery, is equally pleasing. Each 
speaks volumes. The future of any nation with such a com- 
ing citizenship is easily safe. The educational effect of this 
kind of education for the weal of the masses can hardly be 
estimated. From these schools the boys and girls go into 
the home and the world of business and industry, carrying 
\ with them an enthusiasm and a knowledge of new values and 
'\relations that broaden conception of human life as a whole 
and add much to human happiness. 

Moral Education. Moral education may be defined as 
that kind of education which teaches us the habits of action 
and thought of our fellows and our relations to them in 



Kinds of Education 69 

regulating our own habits of action and thought. As such 
it has always been given a prominent place even in the earli- 
est types of formal education. At first it consisted merely 
of a training in the national habits and customs and the 
general manners of action of the people, as well as train- 
ing in the written and expressed laws of the land. Though 
later separated much of early moral education was a training 
in religion and religious rites and customs. As mankind ad- 
vanced in the scale of culture and refinement the moral code 
became more extensive and began to take on its more modem 
form until finally moral education as conceived of to-day and 
as taught in our schools partook more of what we might for 
clearness define as social usage. To-day moral education 
is not given a very prominent place in our school curriculum. 
Indeed it seems chiefly to serve the purpose of "chinking 
in gaps " in our regular weekly or monthly program. It is 
limited chiefly to instruction in social usage, such as the 
value of the simple virtues and courtesies and talks on 
patriotism in the attempt to arouse national pride and a 
respect for our civil institutions. Often and with credit it 
takes up such subjects as respect for the aged, the sick and 
afflicted, the poor and the weak and helpless. Sometimes 
again it branches off quite distinctly into manners proper. 
In a broader sense moral education deals with tendencies, 
instincts and habits and the formation of what we call good 
character attained through an effective training of the will. 
In this sense in a general way by monthly, bi-weekly or 
weekly talks and by such opportune additions as the teacher 
may perhaps find time and occasion to give instruction, a 
moral education is provided for by the schools. In this 
harum-scarum way but little effective education along moral 
lines is done. When, however, we stop to think of the moral 
imperfections in ourselves and our fellows and how much 
human suffering is caused thereby, we marvel at the little 
provision that is made for this kind of education in the 
schools. When, again, we think of the moral pitfalls, that 
we must pass from day to day and what effective willing it 
requires even in the minds of highest balance for it to weather 
safely the storms that assail on every side and how compara- 



70 Education in Theot'y and Practice 

tively few men and women there are who are well educated 
morally, the absence of well regulated moral training be- 
comes even a greater mystci-y. That such training is needed 
one need only gaze in the daily newspaper and the current 
magazines at the stories of graft and political and business 
corruption throughout tlie country to see plenty of evidence. 
It goes without saying that a neglect of this side of our edu- 
cation will cast a shadow on our educational institutions 
and their product that no amount of mental brilliancy and 
an otherwise successful achievement will be able to hide or 
remove. In national ideals, in political life and in govern- 
mental methods we will be as a ship at sea without a rudder 
exposed to the merciless force of the raging billows, help- 
less before our own depravity and weakness. 

There is a still broader sense in which moral education is 
used, — that of procreation and the rearing of children and 
teaching them conformity to the laws of nature and man as 
established in both the natural and artificial system of re- 
wards and punishments. The duties of parenthood are the 
most serious tliat human beings are called on to perform, in 
that all neglect, impropriet}'^ or ignorance in performing 
them is more fatal to mankind than in the case of any others. 
And yet this form of education is almost entirely neglected 
despite the fact that it is a very complex problem and experi- 
ment in it most costly. By reason of this neglect human 
children are very poorly born. But if this were all and the 
problem ended here things would not look so bad. For ow- 
ing to the general pliantness and plasticity of the infant and 
child together with the high degree of impressibility of the 
growing mind of youth, proper nurture could easily undo 
much of that which an improperly aided and controlled na- 
ture had done. While the birth of children is bad, their 
rearing is generally infinitely worse. The home is the first 
place where the awakening mind comes into contact with 
restraint under law. Upon the nature of these first lessons, 
their consistency and justification in reason do})cnds the at- 
titude of the child in the future toward all forms of restraint 
and law during his entire life. Here above all other cases 
a moral education on the part of the governing is very neces- 



Kinds of Education 71 

sary. Will power and character must show themselves. A 
broad understanding of cause and effect as well as of moral 
law as manifested in the play of forces in the physical world 
is necessary — especially that form of it which shows the 
severit}'^ and surcness of punishment consequent upon wrong 
doing. Feeling and passion are absolutely incompatible 
with a successful system of moral education. In the home 
and in the state much more uniformity in human conduct 
both in action and reaction would prevail if there were more 
extensive and more effective moral education, especially in 
this last broad sense. 

Esthetic Education. There is no phase of education that 
brings as much direct pleasure to man, that affords him more 
simple joy in living than esthetic education. Esthetic edu- 
cation is based upon the natural and instinctive capacity 
which all men have for desiring the beautiful, the sublime 
and humorous in life. It is the training and developing of 
this power to further perceive, appreciate and enjoy the 
beautiful, sublime and humorous in the environment. Its 
greatest possibility of exercise and development as well as of 
enjoyment lies in the field of nature, art and literature. The 
services which esthetic education renders to humanit}'^ are 
many. Turned into the physical nature they exalt and re- 
fine, turned into the intellectual, they increase human hap- 
piness by making mental processes appreciative, while turned 
into the moral nature they serve as a powerful check on all 
tendencies to evil deeds and on all that is vicious and degrad- 
ing in human conduct. 

Genetically, while the faculty of esthetic perception (the 
esthetic sense) appears quite early in life, it is at its high- 
est power of fuctioning during the early years of puberty, 
appearing usually at about the age of fourteen or fifteen 
years and maintaining a maximal degree of activity until 
the age of nineteen or twenty where it maintains itself for a 
while and then begins slowly to wane, the process of waning 
differing in different temperaments. The aim of esthetic 
education is to create in man high ideals. When he is es- 
thetically educated he becomes able to appreciate the world 
about him as made visible in color, fonn, motion, sound, etc. 



72 Education in Theory and Practice 

Practically, esthetic education is offered more exclusively in 
such arts as painting, molding, sculpturing, in such sciences 
as music, elocution, poetry, fiction, ethics, astronomy, phi- 
losophy and religion. 

Historically because of the low cultural position of man, 
his proximity in the way of living to the lower animals and 
the fact that the struggle for existence which was made 
severe by his political status caused him to spend most of his 
time in " earning a living " prevented in the past and still 
prevents to-day the masses from enjoying esthetic education. 
Again esthetic education has been and still is confined chiefly 
to the leisure class. I^his, being a fact, since they could 
create the opportunity for such education in their own way 
and since the remaining groups of men had all they could 
do to agitate for and demand other phases of education, 
esthetic education has received but little special attention 
and as a branch of general education has yet to come fully 
into its own. The public educational systems of the country 
are beginning to increase the opportunity which they offer 
for esthetic education. In all cities of any size in the coun- 
try there are specially provided courses in drawing, music 
and elementary clay modeling and molding. In most of 
such cases there are specially prepared supervisors who map 
out courses and keep the system graded and harmonious. 
The introduction of folk dances in the school tends to con- 
tribute in a general way to esthetic education. However, 
esthetic education in its entirety is still regarded to a great 
extent as cultural and a luxury fit only for pursuit by the 
leisure class. Even the higher schools and colleges where 
distinct courses in esthetic education are offered show their 
attitude towards it by imposing upon those who seek train- 
ing in such courses high duties in the forms of excessive fees. 
Many such schools offer extensive courses in rhetoric, elocu- 
tion, music, drawing and painting, but few of these offer as 
yet extended courses in sculpturing. Education in sculptur- 
ing is chiefly restricted to apprenticing and private tutoring. 
In fact much of all forms of esthetic education is in the 
hands of private individuals, who pursue it chiefly for finan- 
cial gain without any thought of fitness or the capacity to 



Kinds of Education 73 

give value for value. Just a few higher schools supported by 
public funds either in this country or Europe offer courses in 
painting, sculpture and are in general patronized. Private 
schools for it abound everywhere. There are art studios of 
considerable note in such cities as Philadelphia, New York, 
Boston, in this country and in such cities as Paris, Berlin, 
Rome, Venice, Milan and Edinburgh, in Europe. Many 
schools in this country offer well elaborated courses in art 
and architecture. However, despite all that is being done 
along these lines for esthetic education, because these efforts 
are chiefly private, and because private efforts are always 
ill-organized and often at loggerheads with itself, esthetic 
education will not come fully into its own until it is taken 
over more extensively by the systems of public education 
where the chief problems of education are and must of neces- 
sity be solved. That the opportunity for good which esthetic 
education offers to society and the state would justify such 
an undertaking few will dispute, nor will they deny that 
esthetic education as a creator of high ideals, lofty emotions 
and a love of the good, the pure and the refined in life, and 
hence as a regulator of human conduct for good, can not 
be surpassed by any other phase of education. Here, then, 
in esthetic education is a virgin and fertile field for expansion 
in educational endeavor. 

Religious Education. In contra-distinction to moral edu- 
cation, religious education aims to fit man for the fulfillment 
of the duty and responsibility devolving upon him out of 
the relation he bears to his Maker, God. It aims to acquaint 
him with the truths of nature and of the revealed word, with 
the varied creeds and canonical laws, and with the teachings, 
dogmas and tenets of the church catholic and of the various 
denominations in particular. Much of this kind of education 
we have inherited from medieval times when the church and 
state were not separate and each had a coordinate sphere of 
influence. In most of the countries of Europe the state has 
not successfully alienated the masses from the church and 
therefore often yields to the pressure from ecclesiastical 
bodies that they be allowed to teach religion as a regular 
subject in the public schools. In France this is true, though 



74 Education in Theory and Practice 

the separation is of more recent date. In Protestant Ger- 
many however, by a compromise eiFected under pressure of 
the church by the commissioner of Education, though re- 
ligion is taught as a regular subject in the public schools 
it is optional with all and parents may at will either keep 
their children at home or send them to school during the 
period for religious instruction (die Religionstunde). In 
America because of the desire for freedom in such matters 
no religious education is offered in higher institutions of 
learning or schools supported by public taxes, though they 
all hold some form of devotional exercises each day and in 
some cases talks upon God and a future life and the benefits 
of right living are given from time to time as occasion may 
permit or demand. In denominational schools the various 
religious services of the respective denominations are used, 
bible classes held, courses in various subjects in theology 
offered and denominational religious literature is taught. 
The effect of this neglect of religious education in protestant 
and democratic countries is easily apparent in tlie lowered 
religious standards, the falling off in voluntary church sup- 
port and regular attendance and in general in a lighter regard 
for matters religious. This, because of its general tendency 
to foster atheism and infidelity, has become a source of alarm 
to the church. As a result some agitation is starting up to 
turn the tide of affairs in the direction of the church and re- 
ligious education. That is, realizing what this neglect in 
religion means to its future growth, the church is seeking the 
cooperation of the state in pushing religious education. In 
this matter, hoAvever, the state having at the imperative de- 
mand of the church turned over to her the responsibility and 
right to control and direct religious education does not feel 
that it is in any way to blame for the dilemma of the church 
and responds sluggishly to the appeal of the church for a 
provision in state systems of education for a place for formal 
religious education. It has been proved that religious educa- 
tion left entirely to the church docs not grow apace with 
state education. In the several centuries of the experiment, 
the church has been unable to maintain the religious educa- 
tion of the masses in competition with the education offered 



Kinds of Education 76 

by the state. The education of the state has begotten free- 
dom and an advance in thought with which the religious edu- 
cation of the church has not kept pace. This the church 
sliows that it knows in its very appeal to the state for aid 
by requesting that it put a course for religious education in 
its regular courses and maintain it on a par with the other 
subjects of the courses. 

The Christian Associations, both the Young Men's and 
Young Women's associations have become a powerful educa- 
tional force in American life. They are prominent in educa- 
tional work in other countries, but nowhere have they risen 
to the prominence in such work as in the United States. 
These associations were originally church organizations but 
in time outgrew the church and sought their own quarters. 
They have not broken their original affiliations however, 
nor have they deserted their original purpose. But they 
have extended their sphere of operation and influence. The 
original purpose of the association was to bring within its 
doors and influence that element of the citizenship that the 
church could not attract. To do this it attempted to at- 
tract to itself by methods common to the world, but under 
an influence purged of the sin and corruption of the world. 
It afforded a place of amusements in a pure social atmos- 
phere. It advocated a practical religion. To those who 
sought evening entertainment and reading it furnished it 
but under elevating conditions. Cleanliness was advocated 
and provided for. Association quarters were provided with 
sanitary baths and a swimming tank. As the attendance 
grew and support increased, more attention was given to 
physical education along with the religious. It took up 
social work, and looked up and found quarters for strangers 
in towns to keep them from falling into bad hands and in with 
evil associates. Gradually literary courses were offered, 
also vocational and industrial courses until to-day the edu- 
cational work of the association is in many localities equal to 
similar work offered by some of our best educational institu- 
tions proper. The courses offered are generally simple, 
brief and practical and at times that will accommodate those 
whose work hours for self-maintenance will only permit them 



76 Education in Theory and Practice 

to give the hours of freedom from work to this kind of effort 
for education and mental, moral and physical enjoyment 
and growth. So rapidly has this work grown that in less 
than a quarter of a century it has grown from a few scat- 
tered organizations to thousands of branches with several 
million members. They own millions of dollars' worth of 
property. At present the parent organization is seeking 
a four million dollar endowment for use in meeting an immedi- 
ate demand for housing quarters. While the young men's 
branch is the older, the young women's branch keeps up with 
it both in membership and field of usefulness. To-day the 
organization maintains branches in all of the higher institu- 
tions of learning with a large student enrollment. The fu- 
ture of this movement cannot be predicted. Its present use- 
fulness as an educational force in society cannot be 
overestimated. In most of its local branches it is rapidly 
becoming a real educational institution, offering as was said 
all of the more important forms of education, reaching an 
element of society that circumstances will not allow to take 
advantage of the schools maintained by public and private 
funds under a different regime and for other classes. 

Intellectual Education. Intellectual education is educa- 
tion par excellence. All other forms of education are but 
variations of it. Formal intellectual education is as old as 
civilization itself. Since tlie separation of church and state 
it has become chiefly the burden of the state. Each state 
in accordance with the civic responsibilities devolving upon 
its citizens has offered them intellectual education. In 
democratic countries for all alike educational opportunities 
are free and equal. In limited monarchies where the " chosen 
few " hold the reins of government by right of inheritance 
educational opportunities are restricted correspondingly. 
The chief test of intellectual education seems to be on a 
basis of illiterac}' statistics. Figures gathered during the 
decade 1890-1900 showed the United States to have one- 
tenth of its population illiterate, England one-twentieth of 
its population so and Russia more than one-half of hers il- 
literate. The Negro is the chief cause of the high illiteracy 
in America. But while the Indian is more illiterate than 



Kinds of Education 77 

the Negro his small numbers preA'ent him from affecting the 
general illiteracy average of the country to such an extent as 
that of the Negro. Next to these (the Negro and Indian) 
in illiteracy come the lower class of immigrants whose num- 
bers cause them to affect decidedly the illiteracy percentage. 
In New York JId Pennsylvania twenty-five percent of the 
immigrants during 1900'-1910 according to the national 
commissioner of education were illiterate. But in most 
states the number is about 5 percent. In the period 1900- 
1910 the Negro illiteracy decreased about thirty percent, 
while that of the immigrant because of the constant influx of 
illiterates from Russia and the countries of southern Europe 
remained about stationary. The Negro illiteracy and the 
Indian illiterac}' constitute a serious problem in education, 
but from the evidence of decrease in illiteracy among Negroes 
in the last decade it would seem that education is doing its 
work well with them. The immigrant presents a different 
and even more difficult problem in a way. For while the im- 
migrant authorities and the United States Commissioners 
of Education claim that the immigrants and their children 
become rapidly educated the constant influx of illiterates 
among them makes the problem a never ending and almost 
hopeless one. This conglomerate citizenship places a 
severe tax on education and educational systems. Upon the 
success of the education given to all must depend the future 
of the country. The Indian is too few to endanger the 
national institutions of government and the Negro is so re- 
stricted in political power and the use of the elective fran- 
chise as to be of little danger. But the immigrants are 
large in numbers and eligible almost immediately to citizen- 
ship. The}^ know little of our political and civic life. They 
are unused to our social ideals. Strangers to each, differ- 
ent in speech and creed, crowded together in poverty and 
filth they are an easy prey to political demagogues. Edu- 
cation here must deal with both old and young. All alike 
must be prepared for American citizenship and for free and 
full participation in our democratic industrial, social and 
religious life. Here education both of the school and of 
forces outside of the school has a very definite and delicate 



78 Education in Theory and Practice 

work to pci'form. Here adjustment must be swift and sure 
if the opportunities offered and responsibilities accepted are 
to redound to the perpetuation of our government and the 
perfecting of our national ideals. Opportunity for educa- 
tion must be constantly brought within the reach of all. 
This is being done. Herein is the glory #f our education. 
Intellectual education is being reduced more and more to 
a science. Realizing its burdens intellectual education is 
responding nobly. Special schools of education for teachers 
are being opened daily. State, County and City Superin- 
tendents are demanding higher grades of teachers and higher 
standards of efficiency in professional training are in vogue. 
School journals and educational magazines as helps for 
teachers abound. Everywhere intellectual education atuned 
fully to the spirit of the occasion is making fitting advance 
along the lines necessary for the future welfare of the na- 
tion. 

Practical, Theoretical and Cultural Education. Besides 
the kinds of education discussed in the foregoing we men- 
tioned also practical, tlieoretical and cultural education. 
While these are distinct kinds of education and obtained by 
a different viewpoint they do not require separate treatment 
as such. The terms explain themselves and since in the 
actual work no stress is laid upon them only a Avord need 
be added here in regard to their meaning and application in 
education. ]Most of our education to-da}' is practical in 
aim, especially the lower grade work. Such of it that is 
not is rapidly becoming so because of the current demand 
for that kind of education. By practical education is meant 
utilitarian education, that kind of education that is useful 
in " baking bread." Of course all education has a theoreti- 
cal side, the former is a necessary complement of the latter. 
The theoretical and abstract in education is the forerunner 
of the practical and useful. Tlieoretical education as such 
while it has its reason of being is only for tlie fev/ and much 
of it has little value at least for the masses, outside of the 
historic walls of the classic college halls. As an advance 
agent of practical education it is indispensable. 

In contradistinctiojQ to practical, theoretical education is 



Kinds of Education 79 

not intended to be of any practical utility. Those who ob- 
tain it were not originally supposed to have any needs in 
this world's goods. For them it filled an intellectual and 
esthetic need. In this sense all education which we know 
now as a formal education was in its early history cultural, 
a luxury, which only the rich and leisure class had time to 
pursue. To-day tliough much of the originally cultural 
education is still regarded as such and in this light desired 
and sought, it has not escaped the sordid commercialism of 
the present. By many cultural education is made to " earn 
bread." Cultural education is to be found in the study of 
the romance and classic languages, music, art, poetry, sculp- 
ture, painting, drawing and stencil work. While cultural 
education has not the place in our educational systems that 
it formerly had, it should be said in all justice that no form 
of education has contributed more to the sum total of human 
enjoyment and to expraid the soul life of man than cultural 
education. 

REFERENCE READING 

Putnam's " IManual of Pedagogy." Chaps. II, XI. 

Compaj^re's " Psychology Applied to Education." Chaps. I,. Ill, XI. 

Compayre's " Lectures on Teaching."' Chaps. II, III. 

Spencer's "Education." II, III, IV. 

Huxley's " Science and Education." IV, XVI. 

Putnam's " Elementary Psychology." Chaps. XIV, XIII. 

Parker's " Talks on Pedagogy." Chap. XIV. 

Morgan's " Studies in Pedagogy." Chaps. VI, VIII. 

White's " School Management.'"' Pages 105, 218, 239, 295. 

Home's "The Philosophy of Education." Chaps. Ill, VI. 

AVelch's "Teachers' Psychology." Chaps. XV, XVI. 

Roark's " Psychology in Education." XIV, XX. 

Baldwin's " Psychology Applied to Art of Teaching." XXI, XXII. 

Hughes' " Dickens as an Educator." Chaps. IV, XIV. 

King's " Social Aspects of Education." Chaps. IX, X. 

Sharpless's " English Education." Chap. VI. 

MacArthur's " Education in its Relation to Manual Industry." Chaps. 

I, II, III, and XVII. 
Dutton's " Social Phases of Education." Page 143. 
Fitch's " Educational Aims and Methods." Chaps. Ill, V. 
King's "Education for Social Efficiency," XII, XIII. 
Hanus' " Beginnings in Industrial Education." Chaps. II, III, IV, V. 
Snedden's "Problems of Educational Readjustment." Chaps. I, VIII, 

IX. 
Adler's " Moral Instruction of Children." Chaps. I-V. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE AGENCIES IN EDUCATION 

In the opening chapter of the text it was stated that the 
term education had a broad and a narrow use. In its broad 
sense it includes all of the influences which combine to modify 
our mental structure and give it increased activity. These in- 
fluences begin their work imperceptibly in the embr3'onic 
stage which later become perceptible at birth and continue so 
until death. In its narrow sense education includes those in- 
fluences which are restricted in their effects to certain life 
periods, certain periods of the day and of the calendar month 
and year and which are given over to the direction and con- 
trol of certain idividuals who labor at certain specifically 
provided places and under certain given conditions of re- 
striction and confinement. In its broad sense these influences 
of education are limited only by the life history of the in- 
dividual and the forces of the universal environment, and 
include all of those influences which tend to modify one's life, 
mode of living and form of conduct. In its narrow sense 
education is usually intended to carry with it conceptions 
implied in the terms instruction and training which we get 
in school and which are planned directly, often laboriously 
and after much experimentation with an intent that is purely 
educational. It is in this latter sense that the term educa- 
tion is most generally used. However, since the influences 
of education cannot all be brought under the head of educa- 
tion in the narrow sense and also in order to obtain a broad 
conception of education and educational factors we will pass 
in this chapter from what we distinguish as scholastic edu- 
cation to what we have earlier defined as education in general. 
The factors of education regarded from the viewpoint of 
convenience of treatment and for reason of the natural sub- 

80 



The Agencies in Education 81 

divisions into which thej fall are in the order of their as- 
cendant powers oA^er the individual, the home, the school, the 
church, the state and society. A careful study of these 
factors will show that they are not all planned equally with 
a view to the attainment of educational ends. Some are 
planned purely for this purpose, others only partly for it, 
while the others seem apparently not planned at all for this 
end. Hence as directly educational in intent these factors 
are either regulated or unregulated. Though it is plain 
that we can establish no division of these factors with a strict 
line of demarcation between them such as the nature of the 
treatment and conception here would demand, yet on the 
contrary they will overlap each in many ways, and each in 
the distinctive subject matter, will extend to some extent 
into the field to be delegated to the others. This is only 
as the agents themselves run each one into the other. The 
home, the school, the church, the state and society, each has 
some things in common and some phases that are peculiar to 
itself and that serve to differentiate it from the other. The 
factors or agents in education may be in general, despite the 
general points of likeness and overlapping in conception, 
divided into two groups, this division being upon their 
original educational intent, and agreed upon as adequate for 
the purpose here intended. They are the agents that are 
definite and regulated and those that are indefinite and un- 
regulated in their educational intent. Those factors defi- 
nitely organized for and immediately directed toward the 
accomplishment of educational ends are, the school in its 
entirety, the church in certain of its functions, the home in 
most of its functions, and the state in some few of its. So- 
ciety is so only in a general but to a very extensive and 
effective degree. Those factors most indefinitely organized 
and unregulated as to their educational intent but tending 
at the same time to disseminate knowledge or bring about 
knowledge giving experience and to direct human activity 
include society almost in its entirety and the state to quite 
an extent. On the other hand, the church and the home 
have functions that are not intentionally educational in their 
effect but which must be conserved in order not only that 



82 Education in Theory and Practice 

educational ends may be achieved but even that social ends 
and life itself may be achieved. 

The Home. The home broadly speaking is the chief as 
well as the oldest institution either social or non-social pos- 
sessed by man. If understood in all of its relations and 
properly administered in them it becomes also the most pow- 
erful factor for good to which man has access. The reason 
of being of the home lies at the bottom of the procreative 
instincts, and is necessary for their full exercise. As an 
institution the home is primarily for producing and preserv- 
ing life. All of its other functions are second to this great 
one. Education itself was and still is mostly a secondary, 
though, in the earlier stages of home life, a no less important 
function of the home and as such is and has always been 
an unregulated and unorganized factor to this end. As 
civilization has advanced and the civil and social life with 
its increased duties and responsibilities has become more in- 
volved and complex, educational demands became greater as 
did many other demands upon the normal forms of human 
existence. Many of the functions of the home earlier re- 
garded as secondary became primary and to-day remain 
coordinate with the reproductive and preserA'ative functions 
of the home. Apart from furnishing food, clothing, shelter 
and protection to the young lives that come into it, and creat- 
ing and maintaining normal and wholesome conditions for the 
full growth and development of this life, a very explicit duty 
of the home is in a manner especiall}^ fitted and properly 
regulated to educate its inmates in a way to promote human 
welfare and to produce happy and healthy members of so- 
ciety. 

The chief cause of the failure and inefficiency of the educa- 
tional processes of the world to-day is that the unregulated 
processes of the school is not properly supplemented bv that 
of the home. If we were to have regard for the most im- 
portant factors in education, time, physical and moral con- 
trol, mental responsiveness and community of interest all 
well tempered with love and sympathy and a disposition to 
self-effacement in sacrifice, we would make school education 
supplementary to the home instead of the reverse as it mostly 



The Agencies in Education 83 

is to-day. It is one of the most serious misfortunes of man- 
kind that its members are permitted to become parents with- 
out any care being exercised to sec that they either possess 
a definite or a correlated knowledge of the duties of parent- 
hood or that they possess any trained fitness for the per- 
formance of these duties even should they become in any way 
known. By the order of things all education of necessity 
begins in the home. All parents both civilized and uncivil- 
ized know that this education of the home must and will be 
supplemented by an education received in the school or from 
other sources later in life. All home education should be 
regulated, systematized and graded to such an extent that 
it will be available in the educational processes of the school 
and of life. They should not, however, be so regulated as 
to become a strain or source of worry to the young child 
and thereby either dull his faculties of knowledge or produce 
bad effects upon any part of the growing and expanding 
organism. For education in the achievement of its ideal 
should aim at the formation of a being as well made physic- 
ally as mentally and morally. 

The first duty of parents with children is to start the 
physical organism of the child off properly in life. The be- 
ginning of this should be in themselves. They themselves 
should cultivate a soundness of body and mind and vigor in 
their bodily functions together with a high degree of de- 
velopment of their esthetic nature. They should surround 
themselves in the home with a pure intellectual atmosphere. 
Having made these a part of themselves either by nature 
or nurture, the laws of heredity^ will bring them into effect 
upon the child even in the earliest embryonic period of the 
prenatal life. After birth these elements now grounded in 
the organic structure of the child they endeavor to follow 
up and expand by guiding and directing through tlie knowl- 
edge which they have gained and the tendencies which the 
child has inherited into a wholesome application and use with 
an especial view to the relation and association which will 
be the child's in his present and future experience and con- 
tact. There is a natural unfolding both of mind and body 
accompanying a natural organic activity. Though this 



84" Education in Theory and Practice 

tendency to organic activit}^ may seem at times overly strong 
and the energy which it presupposes superfluous, it should 
not be inhibited, but controlled and directed constantly to- 
ward a goal to be found in the type of civilization and gov- 
ernment into which the child is born, and sooner or later 
is to take his place as a self-directing responsible moral 
agent and who as a factor in it is to exercise force. But 
here the duties of home do not stop. They extend beyond 
the immediate bounds of the home. This those at the head 
of the home and responsible for the proper direction of its 
affairs should not fail to recognize. But having thus con- 
trolled and directed the forces which have been by nature 
instituted in the home, parents should interest themselves 
actively in the manner in which the other agencies of educa- 
tion perform their functions. Failure on the part of any of 
these agencies the school, the state, the church, society, will 
ultimately return with power and evil effect upon the home 
and either destroy its effectiveness for educational ends or 
destroy it entirely. How the educational ends of the state, 
the church and society are administered is vital to the home 
and in their administration, must, if for no other reason 
than that of self-preservation, be influenced and to some ex- 
tent shaped by home influences if the home itself is to be able 
to pursue its own educational ends satisfactorily. In par- 
ticular must the home see to it that the school performs its 
functions and the general and special values of those func- 
tions in the general life and the relation of those functions 
to the corresponding functions of the home. Were this 
practice commonly followed, much of the useless in the school 
as well as much of the evil could be and would be quickly 
removed. A watchful, sympathetic and reasonable parent- 
patronage is always conducive of good results in a school. 
But apart from the intelligent agitation and reform that 
could be thus effected, the home knowing b}^ close contact 
and association what the school is aiming to do and how 
well it is succeeding in accomplishing its aims could easily 
and with great benefit to all education and all educational 
agencies intelligently supplement school education with home 
education. Especially would this be possible where there is 



Tlw Agencies m Education 85 

for any cause, justifiable or not, remedial or not, serious 
neglect in the work which the school purports to do or only 
partially does. Again, on the other hand, the home could 
inform the school of what it aims to do and how it is attempt- 
ing to accomplish its aims and in turn what it wishes done, 
and thus produce a kind of mutually reciprocal cooperation 
which if undertaken intelligently and in the proper spirit 
is teeming with large possibilities of good. Of course all of 
this does not mean that the home must meddle with the affairs 
of the school in the detail of its working. No one could 
safely advise that. But what is meant is that the repre- 
sentatives of the home should have a definite idea of what 
it wishes accomplished by the school and opportunity should 
be given for those charged with administering the affairs of 
the schools, namely superintendents, boards, principles and 
teachers should have opportunity for coming together and 
counseling over such matters and in a general way of agree- 
ing upon the things that the school should aim to accomplish 
in order to facilitate and supplement the educational efforts 
of the home. Public sentiment is a controlling force in de- 
veloping the growth and development of democratic institu- 
tions in a democratic country. Schools, superintendents, 
boards of education and others in authority in school matters 
could not long successfully withstand an intelligent, con- 
sistent, as well as insistent demand from its patrons in regard 
to the work which they authorize and direct. Whatever pub- 
lic sentiment demanded in education either as supplementary 
to the education that is attempted in the home, or as cor- 
rective of such conditions in education which the home found 
it impossible for any reason to control, would be almost 
immediately forthcoming. Thus there would be produced 
an effective progressive education both in the home and in 
the school, resulting in a brief period in a like improvement 
in the kind of education obtainable from the church, the 
state and society. 

Some of the things in which the home could educate and 
be ably aided by the school are a rational care of the body 
and mind, due regard for law, extending from the simple 
rules and regulations of the home to the relatively more 



86 Education in Theory and Practice 

complex and comprehensive ones of the school, the state, the 
church and society, morals, manners and the various forms 
of etiquette and conventional usages, courage, and manly 
integrity, social diversions, and social rights and privileges. 
Also in a way the home can regulate the school curriculum 
and maintain therein a happy normal. Because of a lack 
of proper adjustment and coordination in the educational 
work of the home and the school much confusion results in 
our domestic, civil, political and social life and habits. 
There is between them not a sufficiently definite understand- 
ing, simply because the teachings in the one did not properly 
accord and harmonize with the other and those conceptions 
gained in the one as proper were more or less out of harmony 
in the other, the breach of law being therefore more a mis- 
take attributable to the flaws of the methods and agencies 
of our general educational methods than to a wilful act of 
misdemeanor on the part of the individual. However, let 
it be said in all justice and with open pleasure that this 
does not occur nearly so often as do the more innocent but 
no less painful and humiliating transgression of the social 
laws by individuals uneducated by the home, the school and 
the church. Whatever of blame for inefficiency and failure 
may rest upon the other agencies in education the home must 
bear its part. Parents are only too prone to shirk their 
duty and then blame the school for the deficiencies and short- 
comings of their children. At best the work of the school 
can only be narrowly restricted. It is left to the home and 
the other living agencies of the world at large to magnify 
and intensify that which the school has done. In order to 
do this I repeat from above each must know what the other 
aims to do, and how well each aims to do its part, and also 
how well each succeeds in the attempt. In this way then, 
each can know what to expect of the other and see to it 
that each, at least to some extent, does Avhat it pretends to 
do, in the manner in which it pretends to do it and to the 
degree of its pretentions. Whereupon the home, the church, 
the state, society each can lend its efforts to enlarge, in- 
tensify and supplement the work which the home has done. 
The School. Genetically, the time was when all of the 



Th£ Agencies in Education 87 

functions of the school were carried on in and by the home. 
Since then by a natural process of evolution, the school has 
become divorced from the home and now occupies a place and 
performs a function as vital and necessary in the economy of 
life as that of the home. As mankind progressed in civiliza- 
tion his duties and responsibilities as well as his relations 
in life became more and more complex. Consequently, the 
preparations for life necessitated thereby became more ex- 
tended and increasingly comprehensive, and the home becom- 
ing gradually overburdened through this natural expansion 
delegated much of its responsibility in education to the 
scJiool. Inasmuch as educational methods kept pace with 
growing and spreading civilization the school found that 
it had its hands full merely to master and apply them, to say 
nothing of the burden of assimilating and disseminating the 
knowledge now so rapidly accumulating, as a result of the 
highly developed mind and constantly growing intelligence 
of man. Besides this, apart from all that has been said and 
written about heredity and the transmission of acquired 
capacities, knowledge has been found to be impossible of 
transmission either by laws known to man or by chance, but 
must be gained if possessed at all during a period especially 
provided for by nature and if we are to judge by its appar- 
ent fitness it is to be gained chiefly during the periods of in- 
fancy, childhood and youth when the human body is by na- 
ture in its stage of greatest pliantness, plasticity and 
ph3^sical and mental impressibility. The demands upon man 
which the school aims to meet are two-fold. They are those 
demands which must be satisfied if the physical life is to 
be properly maintained and those which must be satisfied 
if his spiritual life is to be properly maintained. The last 
of these — the demands of the spiritual life fall into the de- 
mands of the moral, religious and of the intellectual life 
strictly so-called, whose demands were no less distinct and 
imperative though by nature immeasurably interrelated. 

In the wild and nomadic life of primitive man whose de- 
mands in life were simple and few and whose activities were 
of a correspondingly simple nature, there was no demand 
for a school, neither was one such as we know possible for 



88 Education in Theory and Practice 

them nor did such exist. Through the members of the family 
or tribe the child was taught by precept and example, but 
chiefly by example. He learned to do by doing. His do- 
ing was necessary to his living. The parents and the tribes 
were responsible for his learning how to do and directed, 
therefore, both the means and methods of his knowing and 
doing. As conditions became more acute and resultingly 
more complex and his manner of living changed, the struggle 
for existence grew, knowledge spread and tradition became 
more firmly entrenched, the training necessary for such life 
became more diversified. As physical needs became more 
varied, customs, manners and morals became more complete 
and as the religious life spread from fetichism to animism 
and other varieties of cults, the demands upon the intellectual 
life became intensified. Gradually these duties because of 
their number and complexity were delegated to other agencies. 
They were placed in the hands of those evidencing special 
fitness and aptitude in accomplishing desired results in others. 
Fathers wishing their sons to acquire practical skill in hunt- 
ing or fishing, tending the flocks and herds of the family, 
in tilling the soil, or in driving out or away evil spirits, in 
healing the wounded or sick placed them under the immediate 
care and direction of those whom because of their fame in 
these things they believed possessed much skill and knowl- 
edge in some one of these special fields. This was the initia- 
tive stage of the school as an institution of civilization. The 
first of such schools were crude and hardly worthy of the 
name in the sense of its modern application. Assuming that 
there are to-day tribes of people in various parts of the earth 
who are not far removed from the primitive and aboriginal 
in habits and progress, we have learned from them that the 
earliest organized or systematic attempts grew out of and 
took the form of eff'orts to " educate " " medicine men " and 
the priesthood. These attempts at education or forms of 
education were directed towai'd training and instructing 
in the healing art and the manner of performing and holding 
the ceremonial observances. Here is one reason why all of 
the learning was chiefly in possession of the church and that 
the first schools were chiefly ecclesiastical schools, for at that 



The Agencies in Educatior 89 

stage of development, the healing power was believed to be 
a supernatural power and diseases due to the presence in 
the body of evil and malignant spirits present therein for 
the purpose of plaguing and punishing the individual. This 
belief continued for many centuries and inasmuch as the 
medicine men and the priesthood exercised much arbitrary 
power and were generally in cooperation one with the other 
they became more or less strongly united and grew into power 
together down through the ages. During this time the 
church gradually assumed the chief part of the burden of 
education and what little education there was for the state 
was given chiefly in conduction with church education. 
Later the separation between state education and church 
education began. Church schools have had their heyday 
of pomp, glory and power. At present both in Europe and 
America they are falling into the background and state 
schools are occupying the front of the stage. But not only 
are the state schools historically of later origin and develop- 
ment but they are the direct outgrowths of the church schools. 
In fact all ancient and medieval intellectual activity was 
fostered by and owes its very survival to the church. For 
during the great stress and storm periods that at times 
swept over Christendom and civilization and threatened the 
complete overthrow and destruction of all intellectual in- 
stitutions and consequent intellectual activity, and the writ- 
ten accumulated knowledge and verbal traditions of men, 
the church not only collected, protected and preserved these 
tools of progress but it also offered an asylum to the perse- 
cuted among the learned of the laity and clergy and not only 
permitted but encouraged their continued activity, giving 
to the world again in times of peace the stored up and treas- 
ured culture and accumulated knowledge. In the schools 
for the priesthood, as formal knowledge accumulated formal 
instruction by those specially acquainted with it became 
necessary. But the popularizing of the school did not be- 
come a fact until the industrial arts were well advanced. 
For while they made formal education more necessary they 
also gave more leisure for the pursuit of it by creating a 
larger leisure class. 



90 Education in Theory and Practice 

From this meager beginning the function of the school has 
grown steadily until to-day it covers every possible form of 
human endeavor. Aj^art from intellectual and moral educa- 
tion which the school originally undertook, there is to be 
obtained through the school to-day physical education for 
which as we have shown above elaborate preparation for 
both hoys and girls have been made. Religious educational 
opportunities still exist as provided for by the church in 
church schools. In some sections as in Germany and some 
parts of France, as has been said, even in the state schools 
(public schools) religion because of the agitation of the 
clergy, especially the catliolic clergy has been made a regu- 
lar subject in the curriculum, though it is left optional with 
parents to have their children attend upon the religious 
instruction or not, or as they wish to, to have them excused 
from school during this hour. Much of the industrial train- 
ing formerly given the young through the work of guilds 
and other such industrial organizations and by the appren- 
tice system is now turned over to the industrial school, which 
because of the effectiveness as well as practicalness of their 
Avork has become quite popular. Vocational and profes- 
sional education which in the earlier centuries were main- 
tained chiefly through a system of apprenticeship is now 
also in the hands of the school. Even so practical a field 
of activity as agriculture including all of its more prominent 
phases such as farming, dairying, poultry culture, animal 
husbandry, and horticulture is now receiving educational 
attention from the school and courses under the direction 
and management of experts are being offered by it. 

Nor has the home lost any opportunity of pushing its 
burdens off upon the school, until to-day that work which 
has always been considered par excellence the work of the 
home — giving training in the household arts, domestic 
economy and domestic science have finally been pushed off 
by the home and found their way into the school room re- 
vised and adapted to the methods of the school and reduced 
to a science, until now our girls may learn in the school how 
best, most easily, and most speedily to perform all of the 
duties of the home, from the very important latest methods 



The Agencies in Education 91 

and means of fumigation to avoid and overcome infection 
and preventing common diseases, to cooking a meal of a very 
simple or elaborate fare and serving it in a most Avholesome 
and appetizing manner. This is the scope of the work done 
educationally by tlie modern school. Truly it is great. Its 
power for good to humanity is unlimited. All the more then 
should we see to it that it performs its functions well. The 
school is a necessity with us to-day. It would seem that out- 
side of the reproductive function the school has by absorbing 
nearly all of the regulated and directed forms of education of 
the home almost put it out of the educational business. 
Though there is a part of educational work that devolves upon 
the home that the school can never entirely absorb. Just how 
the home stands in relation to the school, has already been 
shown. The one is a supplement to the other. The best 
school can only be obtainable through close contact with and 
full understanding of the home and its explicit educational 
functions. Likewise the best in the home educationall}^ is 
only attainable where there is close association with the school 
and through a full knowledge and understanding of the func- 
tion and processes of the school together with a friendly and 
reciprocal relation which produces a wholesome harmonious 
cooperation in the training of the young body in the way it 
should grow, the young intellect in the way it should think, 
the 3^oung soul in the way it should feel and react upon feel- 
ing issuing in action, and the young hands in the way they 
should manipulate. Thus we see that the home, though 
primarily and primitively a factor in regulated education has 
been and is being displaced in performing this function by 
the school whose formal educational functions the school 
already had almost entirely absorbed. 

The Church. The history of the church as an agency in 
formal education is very much the same as that of the home. 
Here, too, the school has to quite an extent absorbed the func- 
tion of an ancient informal education. Since the church 
evolved historically from the home and in time before the 
school, and historically the school as an institution is almost 
in its entirety an evolved product of the church the treat- 
ment of these two in preceding paragraphs has to a great 



92 Education in Theory and Practice 

extent involved the discussion of the function and evolution 
of the church and its relation to both formal and informal 
education. The church, as we saw, grew out of the impera- 
tive demand everywhere present in the mind of man for some 
means of placating the forces of nature and controlling the 
phenomena of mind as exhibited in the living and from these 
inferred as a power present in the dead. The earliest his- 
torical evidence of social evolution is found in the ceremonial 
rites and religious observances at the head of which stood 
the priesthood and the medicine man. Each was learned 
and excelling in his art ; the former in placating the forces 
of nature and both the friendly and unfriendly spirits of the 
dead and sometimes of the living; the. latter in healing the 
sick and administering to the diseased. Closely allied to and 
in function associated with the priesthood were the sorcerer, 
the wizard and the shaman. With man in this state of de- 
velopment everything was anthropocentric, that is every- 
thing by the men of this stage of development was likened unto 
them in their modes of acting and manner of thinking and 
feeling. 

From this early and crude beginning the church grew into 
a powerful institution with intricate institutional rites and 
observances which she maintained successfully against all 
external attack and became in every way " a very present 
help in trouble " to mankind in the period of stress and dire 
trouble, until corruption from within sapped its vitality and 
ate out its core leaving it in many instances but a mere 
wreck of its former self, a victim to the reconstructive forces 
of an outraged and revolting public sentiment from which 
it will probably never succeed in wresting its former power 
and in becoming its former self. 

In the great division of labor that came on with the re- 
vival of learning, the advance in science and philosophy and 
the creation of new industrial institutions and new forms 
of education, at a time when the church was weak and had 
as a result little influence in temporal affairs much of its 
educational functions were passed over to the school some 
voluntarily and some under legal compulsion or under the 
stress of a powerful public opinion. Tliese have been re- 



The Agencies in Education 93 

tained by the school and been embodied regularly in its 
processes. However, in all catholic countries and in some 
protestant countries the church still has much of its formal 
educational functions remaining with it. In protestant 
countries where state and church are distinctly divorced there 
is a strong sentiment against the school, which is maintained 
by the state through public taxation attempting to carry 
on in its regular educational work any formal religious edu- 
cation, a sentiment which is due in all probabilities to the fact 
that science is at times at variance with religious dogma, 
whereupon the church attempts to control and direct the 
movements of science which science resents, and to the fact 
that science has become more popularized, liberal and ra- 
tional while religion has remained stolid and dogmatic and 
is as a consequence less fully rationalized and opposed to 
much in science which is advanced and of aid to the world's 
material progress. Dogmatic religious education and liberal 
secular education do not go well together. Hence has come 
their separation and by the very nature of the case the 
omission of formal religious education in the scientific proc- 
esses of the school. This has been done upon the demand 
of the church and with the expressed understanding that 
she be left with a free hand to administer religious education. 
Now when it is appearing that the church is not holding the 
citizenship like the school, she is seeking the aid of school 
by asking that certain forms of religious education be looked 
after by the school. However, as far as the real work of 
education is concerned the church quite unlike the home has 
left for it still considerable of formal education to do. 
The branches of education in which the church instructs are 
religious histories and literature and certain special theo- 
logical sciences. In Christian lands it is the history and 
literature of the life and acts of Christ and the Christian 
church and the geography and history of Christ's native land 
or country, Palestine and of its chief cities such as Jerusa- 
lem, Jericho, Tyre, Sodom and Gomorrha. In pagan coun- 
tries it may be either Buddha, Mohammed, Zoroaster, etc., as 
the case may be. Outside of theological seminaries and re- 
ligious schools, but little is done by the school to propagate 



94 Education in Theory and Practice 

and study religion and religious literature either Christian 
or pagan. The church preserves and propagates this as 
her own specific right and duty. The Sunday school was or- 
ganized as an adjunct to the church for the purpose of 
properly instructing the young in Christian tenets and teach- 
ings and Christian history and literature. The church 
through its ministry in the synagogue, monastery, ahbcy, 
convent, and other church buildings such as schools, semina- 
ries, colleges and universities is supposed to perform a func- 
tion like that of the Sunday School for its more matured 
membership. The work of the Sunday School is poorly or- 
ganized, without method and system, the teachers are poorly 
instructed from the viewpoint of intelligence and in most 
cases ill-fitted for their work. Of necessity, then, formal 
education in religion will be of little value to Christendom 
imtil it realizes the importance of its mission, the value of the 
material it offers to mankind and bring into use in the in- 
struction in and dissemination of it the most advanced 
methods employed by the secular schools, and employs a 
teaching force in a like manner specially prepared and 
equipped with the proper tools for its work. The church 
takes much for granted when it enters into its formal educa- 
tional work with the lack of any thorough system of grada- 
tion, and method in the spreading of a knowledge so foreign 
to the present thought and activities of men, but so potent 
for the general uplift and betterment of humanity. 

In the church services themselves, there is even a greater 
lack of systematic formal education. Instead of systematic 
instruction, in the comparatively few pulpits where sermons 
are prepared and delivered in a manner calculated to con- 
form to the degree of mental development of the hearers 
there is no collective system of such methods in any church, 
or churches, denominations or cities. So, with all of its 
earnestness and effort the church almost completely nulli- 
fies its capacity for good in an educational way, by the dis- 
regard or ignorance of all formal educational processes and 
methods. With this state of affairs it can be and is easily 
seen why the church has fallen far short of its real possibili- 
ties in formal education, and has thus lost much of its power 



The Agencies in Education 95 

for usefulness and consequently its hold upon the people. 
Few people go to church to-day in a spirit of real search for 
knowledge either sacred or secular, but more for a general 
social contact, to be aroused in sentiment and emotion by 
the music and prayer and b}^ these edified and nourished 
in an indefinite way rather than for any definite, concrete, 
clearly preconceived line of reflection, or for the purpose of 
being given any particular subject matter either in quality 
or quantity for progressive thought that has any particular 
rank or position in a line or system of thought, for which 
the listening mind has been prepared and put into a state 
of expectancy either by that which has preceded or which 
by announcement he knows is to come. Most people go to 
church only out of a morbid custom for whose continuance 
there is for them no rational ground. Many others go to 
church because during that time there is no other place so 
appropriate or convenient, though it is a reflection on the 
church to acknowledge it. While others go there merely as 
a meeting place for a higher form of social contact and en- 
joyment. Besides this there is a floating, curious element 
in the church membership who attend any church which at 
the moment happens to be popular. It ma}^ have a new 
minister, an excellent choir or a fine church structure or it 
may be in a convenient localit}'. It may be a fashionable 
church or may have in its membership certain ones whose 
social station we emulate or whose recognition or contact 
we desire for wordly or even sordid ends. With an attend- 
ing membership thus irregularly and loosely attending and 
having such superficial reasons for attending services, the 
meager and limited education which the church can give 
through its forms of assemblage and worship is of necessity 
slight and inconsiderate. Then, too, the church member- 
ship is as a whole an adult membership whose opinions are 
pretty well formed and whose store of religious knowledge 
is pretty well what it will ever be. To these the educational 
grounds for attendance upon church worship are not so 
much for the purpose of their religious education as for 
the strengthening and renewing of that religious education 
which they already have. But from an educational view- 



96 Education in Theory and Practice 

point this can be of little value to the church. From another 
viewpoint by its regular church services the church offers 
an asylum to its own membership and to the world at large 
who desire it from the attacks of the non-churchgoing public. 
While this is of but little educational value in itself, through 
this fact it is one of the church's chief sources of influence 
upon the people both in its membership and non-membership, 
secondarily by bringing these people within its reach this 
then becomes a means of exercising an educational influence 
on the part of the church of no inconsiderable power. In 
the world about us we see and hear much that is contrary to 
the teachings of the church, and to Christian dogma, often- 
times the church is fiercely assailed and even in some of its 
strongholds seriously imperiled. For those whose faith is 
small and thus easily shaken, the church services offer an 
opportunity for gathering and communion, furnishes a means 
of stimulation and encouragement for them in their beliefs 
and thus aids them in maintaining and continuing their Chris- 
tian life. In this besides being disciplinary the church is 
educative. 

The State. The state as an educational factor belongs 
to the group of unregulated agencies regarded from the view- 
point of its educational intent. However the state is edu- 
cative in many ways that are decisive and pronounced. 
Through its legal processes, its penitentiary and other puni- 
tive institutions, reform schools and reformatories it teaches 
rebellious spirits lessons that they have obstinately refused 
to learn elsewhere and previously to coming to these. The 
understanding of the legislative machinery, its methods of 
operation and the effects of these upon the citizenship in 
general; the function and flaws of the judicial machinery, 
the administration of justice, both successfully and unsuc- 
cessfull}^ applied, the executive of the state as a check upon 
the other two departments and upon individual work all 
teach the citizenship lessons in civic duties and responsi- 
bilities to an extent and in a way that neither the home, the 
school nor the church could succeed in doing. In regulating 
commerce, travel, maintaining public highways, museums and 
libraries and institutions for the deaf and blind and feeble 



The Agencies in Education 97 

minded and insane (that is the partially demented patients 
of wliom all such institutions contain a large number) the 
state performs a function that is highly though only spe- 
cially educative. In maintaining a library for shelving and 
exhibiting for use state records and other official reading 
matter, in creating opportunity of learning trades for the 
inmates of the penitentiary, reform schools and the various 
asylums, in supporting agricultural experimental stations, 
weather bureaus and experts in farm and other kindred form 
of demonstration work such as that carried on in general by 
the department of health and in particular when contagion 
and epidemics threaten, by the fire commissioner, etc., and 
in seeing to the publication and distribution of the literature 
instructing in such work, the state becomes formally educa- 
tive in its intent. By the holding of expositions and con- 
gresses both national and international, the holding of fairs 
both county and provincial, the state exercises again a func- 
tion that is particularly educational, attendance upon which 
is often worth more educationally than whole periods of 
regulated study in college or university, by promulgating 
laws against vagrancy and laws for compulsory education, 
laws raising the standard of educational qualifications and 
laws establishing minimum school terms, the state is exer- 
cising a function that makes it in intent an educational 
agency or factor. 

Society. The chief source of man's education both in 
quality and quantity is obtained through social contact and 
free access to social institution, though they are merely in- 
cidentally so. The functions of society are unregulated 
for the attainment of educational ends. Under the head of 
social education come all individual and collective effort which 
aims to further individual or collective self expression. In 
a certain sense everything which man does is in a way educa- 
tive and life is the one great school. All forms of social in- 
tercourse while a pleasurable one, is a verj^ prominent source 
of education, both in knowledge of conduct and knowledge of 
fact. Under social intercourse comes travel. Travel is a 
most highly educational process. Through it we learn of 
both people and places, and the products both of man and 



98 Education in Theory and Practice 

nature. The education gained is also both liberal and varied. 
It gives a fulness to the concepts of reading and study that 
could not be obtained in any other way. So highly has the 
educational value of travel been rated that many institutions 
of learning require stipulated amounts of travel either do- 
mestic or foreign or both as a condition of graduation in 
certain courses of study which they offer. This is especially 
true in the case of contiguous countries of Europe. Stu- 
dents for example in German, French or English Universities 
having as their major subject any of the Romance or Teu- 
tonic languages are required to live in that country at least 
six months and learn first hand the customs of the people, 
their language and institutions, before admission to the work 
immediately preparatory to the taking of the examination 
leading to the degrees. Daily papers, all periodical litera- 
ture and libraries are educational in their influence. Hence 
their presence in so many homes. INIuch educational work 
is done to-day by the lecture courses of the cities during the 
winter season and the chautauquas of the summer. Though 
these lyceums and lecture bureaus have become highl}^ popu- 
lar chiefly as a source of entertainment, much of their patron- 
age is undoubtedly due to the educational value of the 
entertainment which they offer. The theater, too, is a 
potent educational factor maintained for social intercourse 
and entertainment. Here while there is much to be con- 
demned there is also much that is beneficial and of high edu- 
cational value. The playground in its mighty lessons of 
cooperation, self-subjugation and self-denial, courage, en- 
durance and self-control, apart from being a potent force 
for socialization is also a powerful educational factor. 
When the playground is under direct skillful supervision 
and the child activity directed along lines preconceived and 
chosen for their ability to develop power, skill and endurance 
as well as fairness and fellowship, it lays the basis of a char- 
acter and teaches a lesson that the school could never in 
its most visionary dreams hope to teach. But nowhere does 
one learn the vastness of human endeavor and the intricate 
interdependence of all industrial and vocational activity' 
and their educational value until he enters into the field itself. 



Tlie Agencies in Education 99 

Here one soon loses any original ideas that he may have had 
of his independence and irresponsibility. He learns his real 
insignificance as well as true worth and real importance in 
the world, which serves decidedly to sober and temper him. 
Contact with the ponderous machinery of these large indus- 
trial plants and the workings of the vast systems of hire, 
directing labor and discharging it is a great and valuable 
lesson. Society is indeed a great educational agency. It 
is this from our first to our last contact with it. Many of 
the lessons which it teaches are hard and bitter, and the 
cost of its teachings are sometimes high, especially to the 
fractious and the rebellious ones. But no agency in educa- 
tion is as effective in the power to impress its facts upon 
us as is society. It is too busy working out the progress 
and development of the whole to give much time and con- 
sideration to the individual. A blind, insensate mechanical 
monster, one who cannot fall in with it, soon uses up his 
meager suppl}^ of energy in fruitless resistance or efforts 
at change and is crushed out and covered up by the dust of 
those ground up and shaken oflP from its ever moving ma- 
chinery. We learn of it by being part and parcel of it. In 
no other way could we so effectually be taught by it. Its 
methods are infinitely varied and many, but they are not those 
either of the home, the school, the church, the state, but all 
of these and more too. Society has educational methods 
and processes of its own. But however mighty an educa- 
tional factor it is, it must be classed as an unregulated and 
undirected educational agency. 

REFERENCE READING 

Rosenkranz's " Philosophy of Education." Part II, Chap. I. 

Scott's " Social Education." Chap. V, I. 

O'Shea's "Social Development and Education." Chaps. XI, XII. 

Kings "Social Aspects of Education." Chaps. I, II, III, IV, XV, 

XIX. 
Home's " Psycholosjical Principles of Education." Part II, Chaps. 

XXXI, xxxiCxxxiii. 

Gillette's " Vocational Education." Chaps. Ill, IV, IX, VIII. 
Gesell's "The Normal Child and Primary Education." Chap. XXII. 
Blair's " Mottoes and Commentaries of Froebel's Mother-play." Pp. 

4i?-49. 
Parker's " History of Modern Elementary Education." Chap. III. 



100 Education in Theory and Practice 

Blow's " Educational Issues in the Kindergarten." Chap, X. 

De Garmo's " Principles of Secondary Education." Vol. I, Chap. III. 

Harris' " Psychologic Foundations of Education." Chaps. XXI, 

XXXII. 
Scott's " Social Education." Chap. XII. 
Pickard's " School Supervison." Appendix A. 



CHAPTER V 

THE SCHOOL 

Its Location, Environment, Equipment, Heating, 
Lighting, Sanitation, Etc. 

Its Location. As the term is here used the school refers 
to the building or structure in which the pupils or students 
are wont to gather for their daily routine exercises of 
reciting tlieir lessons and receiving the guidance and help 
of the teacher in explaining to them that in their lessons 
which they do not understand, directing them in the prepara- 
tion of their future lessons and conducting other exercises 
considered as adjuncts to these. The school as here used 
may be a building of one room or many rooms. It should 
be located in such a place of convenience as will afTord the 
greatest ease of approach to the greatest number of pupils. 
This of course, is merely a proposition in abstract justice 
and as an idea will be agreed to by all. In the actual work 
of practice many reasons mostly local will arise to cause 
variation from this general principle. On general principles, 
also it is generall}^ intended that a school should be located 
as near the center of population of the school district as 
possible, all other things being equal. In practice again 
this proposition will meet with various forms of modification 
according as various circumstances and conditions enter to 
induce change. For example inasmuch as land near the 
center of population is in greater demand than land off 
the center of population the cost of the land at the center 
of population may be considered as unreasonabl}^ high or 
it may even be beyond the financial means of the school 
authorities. Besides these, other conditions of cost price 
may serve to thwart the putting into practice of this prin- 
ciple. Again means of travel are not always best in the 

101 



102 Education in Theory and Practice 

center of population, though it is generally expected that 
they should be. Consequently oftentimes points more or 
less off of the center of population may be in the end 
actually nearer in the reduction of the amount of time con- 
sumed by the pupils in getting to and from school. In 
our own civilization the chief aids to attendance on school 
are good roads in the country and paved streets in the city. 
To these in more recent years have been added interurban 
cars and regular service in street cars. For the well situated 
in life, materiall}^, horses and buggies or carriages, bicycles 
and even automobiles serve also to bring schools and school 
opportunity within easy reach. In this w^ay schools though 
spatially more distant from pupils may by the various means 
of travel become relatively nearer, and vice versa. In cities 
with all of the modern means of travel and conveyance the 
particular advantage to be gained would be perhaps best 
conserved by locations of school buildings near one or more 
street car lines througli the district, or perhaps better, if 
these two or more lines crossed each other, at or near the 
junction of such lines. In rural and country districts this 
advantage would perhaps be best conserved by locating at 
or near the junction of two or more roads, these being 
picked for the amount of travel which they facilitate, the 
maxim being, the better tlie road the greater is the ease 
of travel along it. As to the grounds themselves modern 
science gained through almost unlimited experience and ex- 
periment, has proved that the question of their cliaracter, 
location, size (amount of play space afforded each pupil), 
slope, drainage and general healthfulness is a very import- 
ant question. Especially is this the case when these are 
considered from the viewpoint of general service schools 
shall render their patrons and the degree of physical well- 
being they are intended to furnish for the school children. 
From the facts taught us by the science of medicine and 
the facts and results brought to our notice by physical 
education it has been shown that these things seriously affect 
the health of the child. And the healtli of tlie child is worth 
more to it, to its family, the state and society than any 
mere bit of learning that it gains in the school at the 



The School 103 

hands of the teacher. Because of the advantages indicated, 
above all, ground chosen for school building and play ground 
purposes should be by nature high and well drained. Low- 
lands are damp and more or less impervious to water and 
are a harbor for all kinds of insects, which breed there 
and nurse and spread all manners of diseases and pestilences. 
Besides this the bacteria of many diseases such as catarrh 
in its various forms and affections of the bronchia, lungs, 
pleura and mucous membranes are said to have their " hang 
out " in these places, from which as a result of constant 
exposure infection would be correspondingly easy. Modern 
agriculture has taught us much as to the nature and contents 
of various soils and subsoils. Geology has given us still 
more. From these sources we learn that clay soils and sub- 
soils are particularly to be avoided as sites for the school 
and grounds. Clay soils are moist, cold and clammy and 
send off moist vapor constantly. Many subsoils while appar- 
ently dry and well drained on the surface carry what is known 
commonly as free or ground water. In sections where such 
subsoils are present and ground water abounds cellars often- 
times become filled with water and when not thus filled with 
water they are cold, damp and unhealthy. Oftentimes, too, a 
few feet below the surface of the ground rocky ledges be- 
come pockets acting as reservoirs for the water which per- 
colates through the interstices of the soil. This ground 
water is not the same as the so-called subterranean water 
which comes from greater depths and differs from this chiefly 
in being surcharged with various mineral elements that make 
it very healthy and as such not a menace but a strong con- 
tributor to health. Land used, therefore, not only for school 
sites, but for any kind of building purposes should be thor- 
oughly drained of all forms of water, both surface water 
and ground water. It is better that it be so drained by na- 
ture, but if nature is against the proper drainage then arti- 
fice should step in and do what nature has not done. If a 
subsoil carries ground w^ater it can be discovered by tests 
being made through boring or digging of holes into the soil 
or subsoil and leaving these exposed for a few days when 
the ground water will show its presence by gathering in these 



104 Education in Theory and Practice 

holes, whereupon it may be at one's convenience pumped 
out or drained off. The land itself should be as nearly as 
possible free from organic matter. For organic matter in 
the first place tends to hold water and thereby prevents drain- 
age and in the second when exposed to the air and the actinic 
force of the sun's rays decomposes and putrefies, robbing the 
air of its health giving oxygen and surcharging it with all 
manner of odoriferous and disease bearing impurities, which 
by means of various physical agencies, such as warm air or 
hydrostatic pressure, raises the ground water to the surface 
and the heat causing evaporation fills the adjacent air with 
impurities which in time gain entrance to and fill the build- 
ing with impure if not contaminated and disease laden air. 
All of these things mean much to the general good of the 
school and should be carefully studied by those interested 
in or charged with the responsibility of finding proper loca- 
tion for a school. 

Its Environment. It goes without the saying that from 
the very mission that the school is charged to perform, namely 
to produce normal, healthy, wholesome beings in mind, soul 
and body, and to develop and train them for the greatest 
amount of productive activity, it must have the very best 
physical, mental and moral environment. To begin with 
these ends in general can be best conserved by the school 
being well away from all noise and such disturbing agencies 
of the city, town, village and rural community as contribute 
thereto. It should be far away from the industrial sections 
with their massive buildings of rougli ungainly architecture, 
the machine shops with their distracting whirr and buzz, 
the foundries with their huge smoke stacks from which day 
and night leap lurid flames, dense smoke and gases polluted 
with every kind of mineral poison which both worry and ex- 
haust with their noise, dim or shut out the light and either 
contaminate or keep away entirely all draughts of fresh 
air. It should be away from the main streets and thorough- 
fares of the business sections with their din of traffic, the 
rattle and prattle of horse and wheel, the clang of bell and 
the ceaseless patter of hurrying feet, together with the gen- 
eral but ever present danger to life and limb to be found in 



The School 105 

these sections both for young and old, but especially for the 
young and unwary. It must also be away from the unsightly 
houses and buildings of the poor sections and the rickety and 
dilapidated houses of the redlight districts with unhealthy 
congestion and open and unrestrained immorality and deg- 
radation. The importance of keeping the school in the 
more beautiful, sanitary and wholesome sections is obvious. 
The dwellers in and frequenters of the redlight districts are 
not accustomed to show consideration in modesty to those 
older people who know the nature and purpose of their acts 
and will resent it by appealing to the law, much less are they 
disposed to consider children in the mere passing. And yet 
these children do not know the import of things seen and 
licard while passing and will take on pollution unwittingly as 
if it were the best in our civilization. The school needs the 
aid of all good forces in society to attain its best results 
and certainly whatever of aid can be given in environment 
should be seriously considered and eagerly sought in lo- 
cating a school. 

Along with environment of the school come the subjects 
of the size of the grounds and their arrangement. The size 
of the plot of ground from the theoretical viewpoint is de- 
termined by the number of students the school is intended to 
accommodate. From the practical side the question of 
economy plays a prominent part especially in city schools 
where ground is rented, leased or sold at so much per square 
foot. There is much difference to authorities limited in 
finances between ground that cost oftentimes hundreds of 
dollars per square foot and land which costs less than a 
hundred dollars an acre — a fact that is oftentimes a mat- 
ter of serious consideration. At present, however, under 
the stress of a demand for physical education a play ground 
allowing ample room for healthy exercise is of paramount 
consideration. This it is a pleasure to say is generally 
appreciated and grounds are provided everywhere though 
sometimes at great financial cost to the taxpayers. In Ger- 
many a square meter of playing room is considered necessary 
for each child. In America the norm is placed by 
most authorities at about thirty square feet of playing space 



106 Education in Theory and Practice 

per child. At this rate a school in order to accommodate 
five hundred pupils at play would require play ground space 
about the size of a quarter of a city block or a space about 
the size of six city lots. Other schools would require play 
grounds in corresjDonding proportions as they were intended 
to accommodate less or more pupils. However, such other 
conditions as the means on hand and the ground in the 
particular locality available for such purposes would enter 
as incidental factors to determine the size of play grounds 
furnished any school. Besides for esthetic reasons wherever 
and whenever possible the grounds should be large enough to 
admit of beautifying. In such cases it could hardly be deemed 
advisable to sacrifice space really needed for child activity for 
giving mere beauty to grounds. In beautifying grasses, 
flowers and shrubbery artistically arranged with shade trees 
set out in corresponding symmetry and all well set off with 
settees and swings may be found sufficient to produce the 
desired esthetic effect. Where possible fences surrounding 
the premises might be of hedge instead of being of the 
ordinary iron, rail or pale fence. None of these esthetic 
ends are however of sufficient value to warrant their being 
sought at the sacrifice of adequate play ground space. 
Though unjustifiable in the nature of things, if either sex 
should be forced to sacrifice either ornamentation or play- 
grounds the present social sentiment would give the boys 
the playground and the girls the ornamented grounds. Inas- 
much as sunlight is desirable as well as exercise and pure 
air, all playgrounds should where possible be on the sunny 
side of the building and have the benefit of whatever protec- 
tion is available from the chilly winds and be equipped with 
buildings for shelter during storms and bad weather. Trees 
when present should be if possible of the evergreen variety in 
order to soften the otherwise barrenness of the cold and 
bleak winter days. These besides being systematically ar- 
ranged should be far enough away from the building in order 
not to be light obstructing by casting their darkening 
shadows through the windows of the school room during the 
regular school periods. Sliould there be both the evergreen 
and deciduous trees the deciduous trees should be placed 



The School 107 

near the building so that in the winter when they cast their 
longest shadows they will be devoid of leaves to offer ob- 
struction to the entrance of light through the windows. 
For drainage cleanliness and healthful activity grounds cov- 
ered with natural sand and medium sized gravel have been 
found to give the best results. Boarded floors, asphalt, 
macadam, cement or other hard composition floors, besides 
being more or less slippery and dangerous in case of any 
form of violent activity are unyielding and painful by the 
resistance they offer and the consequent jars they cause to 
the joints of the body in the springing and jumping in which 
all children are wont to indulge at play. For moral pur- 
poses and sex hygiene as well as good manners all play- 
grounds however small should be separate for boys and girls 
and should have separate entrances. 

Its Construction and Equipment. The school as here used 
we have said would be either a room or group of rooms. But 
if it should happen to be the latter both experience and ex- 
periment have shown that it should be the rooms put together 
to make the building and not the building made into the 
rooms if in the structure the best ends are to be conserved 
for the general health of the pupils and the quality and ef- 
ficiency of the work. The best shape for room or building 
is a rectangle, with the second choice for a square building. 
The average life of a school building is about a generation 
and a half : while many of them do duty for several genera- 
tions and there are some few over two hundred years old and 
still in service. From the length of service demanded of a 
sfehool building and the part it plays in the life and health 
of those who attend it — both pupil and teacher — a school 
building should be of the very best material and should 
represent the best skill and workmanship obtainable and 
should as nearly as is practical under local conditions be of 
brick, stone or concrete. Brick, stone and concrete struc- 
tures have the advantage of being more endurable, warmer 
in winter and cooler in summer, offer less danger in the case 
of fire than wooden buildings. In order to reduce the dis- 
turbances of the school and to gain order and quietude from 
the outside, the building should be as far back from the street 



108 Education in Theory and Practice 

as is possible without cutting off the supply of light and 
air, by its resulting enforced proximity to adjoining build- 
ings. In order to overcome noise from the street produced 
by the passing wagon and horse, substances, that tend to 
deaden sound, such as sawdust and other forms of wood 
pulp and sand may be spread on the street pavement im- 
mediately surrounding the school. For continued use the 
best results will be found to obtain when this surface cover- 
ing is either sprinkled with water or oiled frequently. If 
the school must be near other buildings they should be suf- 
ficiently far off to admit of a maximum amount of light. 
The ideal condition is the one where a line drawn from the 
base of the school building to the top of the neighboring 
building makes an angle with the earth's surface of between 
twenty-five and forty degrees, the nearer the angle is to 
twenty-five degrees the better. Light as we can all tell by 
our bodily feeling on sunshiny and cloudy days, is not only 
good for the eyes but is also a powerful motor for dispelling 
gloom from the soul and inducing good cheer and happiness. 
This power is possessed particularly by rays from the sun 
that fall directly upon the subject. ]Modern bacteriology 
has proved that the sun is a powerful disinfectant — na- 
ture's physician — and offers a serious check to the breeding 
of infectious germs and the spread of infectious diseases. 

The consensus of opinion is that buildings should not be 
more than two stories high. In such buildings the minimum 
of fatigue in climbing stairs prevails and the minimum danger 
to injury in case of fire exists, with a maximum seating and 
recitation capacity. The strain in climbing stairs is not 
noticeable in the ordinary graded school, but where there 
is departmental work and every thirty to forty-five minutes 
for four, five and even six hours pupils must pace up and 
down long flights of stairs, the strain is sufficiently taxing 
to tell on the energy of even the stronger pupils and thereby 
materially affect the quality of mental work done. When it 
comes to the dangers from fire the question is one of even 
more seriousness and fraught with immediate danger to life 
and limb. For many reasons given above and others equally 
weighty entranceways to all school buildings should be as 



The School 109 

numerous as possible and as wide as possible with risers be- 
tween five and a half and six and a half inches high and treads 
from ten to twelve inches wide. Stairways also will meet 
both normal and emergency conditions best if they are num- 
erous. Under no conditions should there be less than two 
and these should be at the ends of the buildings and never in 
the center. For rapid exit doors should be from three to 
four feet wide and all rooms should open into two or more 
corridors from ten to sixteen inches wide. Fire-drill should 
be constantly practiced under compulsion of statutory law, 
so that order and self control may prevail. When these have 
reached such precision that the school building can be emptied 
in three minutes or less, the dangers from fire and panic in 
schools will be reduced to a minimum. The signals for fire 
should be distinct and easily intelligible to teachers and pupils 
alike. 

For the purpose of light, health and cheerfulness of the 
school, the walls should be white, the ceilings high and con- 
cave and painted not plastered. All ledges, cornices, corners 
and other places where dust might collect should be avoided. 
Wainscoting where present is best either glazed or of a 
highly polished surface. Cloak rooms for reasons chiefly 
sanitary should be large enough to accommodate all wraps 
without crowding them together. They should also for 
similar reasons be well heated, well lighted and ventilated 
thereby reducing the possibilities of the spread of various 
contagions to a minimum. All schools need basements and 
wherever funds will permit authorities should be persuaded 
to provide them. But many dangers may lurk in basements 
unless the proper precautions are taken in their construction. 
Every possible precaution known to science should be taken 
to insure that they shall be dry and well lighted and venti- 
lated. The walls of cellars and buildings should be im- 
pervious to water, especially if the subsoil carries ground 
water. A good wall that will insure a dry basement may be 
made out of asphalt laid between a brick or stone wall and 
tar on the outside with a floor of cement. Basements are a 
prominent utility for a school and if properly built may be- 
come a healthy place for play in inclement weather, but if 



110 Education in Theory and Practice 

unhealthy it may and generally does become a serious danger 
to the health of the pupils. Its practical utility is chiefly 
as a place for the furnaces and air passages for ventilation, 
coal-storage and as a place for the location of toilets, lava- 
tories and baths, where such is furnished, and for a swimming 
pool. However, swimming pools are luxuries comparatively 
few schools can afford, but which are more common in the 
schools of the larger cities of England and Continental Eu- 
rope. 

Its Equipment. The equipment of the school should be 
simple, healthful, cheerful and practical. It may vary from 
a single array of desks seats, recitation benches, teachers 
desk, chairs and window shades, to a room with painted walls, 
highly colored wall maps, globes, pictures, library tables, 
blackboards, drawing and music charts and other objects 
for decoration, and plants for ornamentation or nature 
study, or both. A school overcrowded with equipment be- 
sides being deleterious to tlie health of the pupils through 
the opportunities the objects offer for the collection of dust 
with its tendency to support infectious germs, entails much 
work upon the teacher or janitor to keep them in order. 
Out of order the}'^ are a severe strain to highstrung nervous 
temperament accustomed to tidy and orderly homes and in 
this way as a result tend to have a demoralizing effect upon 
the school, it being claimed and generally conceded that the 
work of a school will more than likely take on the same gen- 
eral tone as is afforded by the physical environment of the 
pupil. Thus it is seen that equipment should be reduced to 
a minimum for maximum efficiency in teaching and maximum 
effect in decoration without becoming a source of strain 
and worry or demoralization upon pupils and teacher. A 
few educational instruments practical and in good working 
order Avith a potted plant or two to break the monotony of 
the view and bring cheer and happiness, and a lively progres- 
sive teacher have been found to be about the best equipment 
for a successful school. The rather recent arousal of senti- 
ment for and interest in physical education has stirred edu- 
cators to an investigation of the effects of the school life and 
surroundings upon the health of the pupils. This iiivestiga- 



The School 111 

tion has led to a wonderful improvement in the physical 
conditions furnished the pupils by the school. Physiology 
and hygiene brought to light many glaring defects in the 
methods of seating puj^ils and the direful results that this 
works upon the young plastic bodies of school children. It 
was found out that many serious deformities possessed by 
people might be traced directly to vicious methods in the 
physical habits formed by the school many of which were 
caused by the school equipment. Many of these were found 
to have followed individuals throughout life. Investiga- 
tion showed that there was more than one important side 
to the problem. Not only was it necessary that desks be 
strong, occupy a minimum amount of space for service 
rendered, but for the physical comfort and health of the 
pupil as well as for his working efficiency they should possess 
glazed or highly polished surfaces with as few crevices for 
the collection of dust and germs as possible. They should 
also be constructed according to the natural fonn of the body 
and permit the maintaining of normal postures without strain 
or fatigue. Like school buildings the school equipment is 
intended to last for a long time. Very often it is made to 
do duty for several generations. It is necessary, then, that 
it be of the best workmanship and material and also of the 
newest model, made according to the results of the most re- 
cent investigation of hygiene and physiology. 

The subject matter of desks, seats, and order and methods 
of seating pupils both from the viewpoint of health, economy 
of time in school work and working efficiency of the pupil, 
have been pretty well investigated and some pretty definite 
conclusions reached as to the needs of schools along these 
particular lines. The chief physical defects created by desks 
that are faulty in pattern or ill-adapted to the size of the 
pupil and the general shape of his body are curvature of the 
spine, bending posture, round shoulders, various affections 
of the e3'es, impaired action of the lungs and viscera, along 
with repeated instances of bowed legs. The greatest problem 
in this connection has been to have desks tliat would accom- 
modate properly all of the pupils of the various sizes. Ex- 
aminations conducted by competent authorities interested 



112 Education in Theory and Practice 

in these matters showed that in boys six years of age, the 
difference in height varied as much as six and a half inches ; 
at eleven this disparity in difference of height had reached 
about eight and a half inches and at fifteen it had risen to 
eleven and a third inches. These relative differences would 
vary slightly in the different localities and schools and in the 
same locality and schools during different years, because it 
is a fact of commonplace inteUigence that scarcely any two 
children grow continually at the same rate, nor resultingly 
would they grow the same amount in the same given period 
of a year or school term. Besides this demand for desks and 
seats necessary to accommodate pupils of various sizes and 
rate of growth during the same age and grade, there are 
exercises that are conducted on the tops of the desks them- 
selves which require that in order that they may be properly 
adopted to the various positions of the body in these ex- 
ercises and thereby avoid strain on the body and that the ob- 
ject be at the proper distance from the eye and may rest at 
the proper angle of vision to avoid strain and the counter- 
acting and sometimes harmful effects of light reflected by 
polished surfaces about the room at various angles. The 
proper distance of a book from the eye is said to be about 
twelve inches, while the line of vision should be at right angle 
to the angle of tilt of the book in order to produce the least 
strain and fatigue on the eyes during that exercise. Objects 
presented to the eyes for any length of time too far away, or 
too near, or while tilted at too great or too small an angle 
tend to produce myopia, hyperopia and various other afflic- 
tions of the eye. It used to be contended that an angle of 
from thirty to forty-five degrees was the proper slope of the 
eyes, and for mere reading this is probably true. But experi- 
ment has shown that at this angle drawing becomes difficult, 
and writing with ink practically impossible. For in the posi- 
tion of the pen in vertical writing ink will not flow at so great 
an angle of slope, at least ink of normal thickness will not, 
while all objects left loose on the desk lid when it is tilted at 
that angle even though they be relatively heavy, will overcome 
the surface resistance readily and if left alone will slide off 
the desklid and fall to the floor. Now then, having found 



The School lis 

the relatively perfect condition for normal, natural bodily 
posture and movements, how to get a desk that would meet 
these conditions was the next great problem. With the con- 
stant variation in height and growth in the same grade in 
different pupils and in the same pupil during his stay in the 
same room and a demand for desks for different exercises 
during the various recitation periods of the same day by 
the same group of pupils, it was quite evident that the desk 
noM' commonl}' in use unadapted to a variety of heights and 
adjusted to no variation in groAvth and set at one angle, 
was not ver}' appropriate for the task which these conditions 
set before it. An economic demand soon creates its own sup- 
ply. Science ever responsive to the offers of finance soon 
responded and gave us an adjustable desk that in many ways 
accommodates the needs specified above as to height, growth 
and angle of slope for the top of the desk as required by the 
various exercises of the school. These desks are not perfect 
but are a step in the right direction. With time they will 
no doubt be improved to meet more nearly the demand in its 
entirety. The Heusinger desk at present seems to be the 
best on the market for these conditions. To help meet these 
demands for adjustment the Heusinger is fitted up with an 
adjustable seat that accompanies the chair. These seats 
may be raised and lowered at will so as to permit the feet 
of any pupil to rest squarely on the floor. They may be 
slid toward or away from the desk lid. They are fitted also 
with concave backs, curved in correspondence to the natural 
curvature of the spine, with a chair that is doubly concave 
rising in the middle in front so as to keep the thighs level 
and the pelvic girdle or seat bone in a healthy normal posi- 
tion. The depth of concavity of the chair seat should be 
about three-eighths of an inch, that of the back about one 
and a half inches. The curvature in the back, on the other 
hand, should be about three fourths of an inch. The seats 
themselves should also not be too narrow nor too wide as 
either one enforces a sitting posture that is harmful. For 
matters of health, discipline and a high working efficiency in 
the pupil all such desks and in fact all desks of any type 
should be single. 



114 Education in Theory and Practice 

Its Ventilation and Warming. If we are to accept the 
data of previous investigation by experiment the best re- 
sults in health and working efficiency will obtain in the school 
when each pupil has sufficient warmth and fresh air. Care- 
ful calculation has shown that the normal pupil can be rea- 
sonabl}' well supplied with fifteen square feet of floor space 
and 200 cubic feet of air space. A school fifteen feet wide, 
twenty-five feet in length and thirteen feet in height will 
hold as its maximum capacity for ventilation and floor space 
twenty-four pupils. With only twenty pupils the same size 
school would furnish to each one eighteen and seventy-five 
hundredths square feet of floor space and two hundred and 
forty-three and seventy-five hundredths cubic feet of air. 
While this is a general demand, the more fresh air per pupil 
and the larger amount of floor space a school furnishes, the 
better will be the health and working conditions of the pupils. 
In this condition many states have laws requiring that schools 
furnish more than the amount specified above. The laws 
of Massachuetts for example demand 30 cubic feet of pure 
air every minute according to which it would require a com- 
plete change of air every eight minutes for a school with 
twenty pupils or a complete change of air every six and 
nine-tenths minutes for a school of 24 pupils. It is to be 
remembered that floor space and fresh air are very essential 
prerequisites for health and work in routine school processes. 
In primary grades plenty of floor space for movements and 
an abundance of fresh air for breathing are more imperative 
than later in the grades, because here, child activity is great- 
est and vital functions generally more intense. Hence any 
check in these is especially to be avoided as the surplus energy 
created by air and room for movements goes into growth 
and development. The chief cause of bad posture while 
sitting is fatigue and sometimes exhaustion brought on to 
a great extent by an insufficient amount of air per capita. 
The habit of crowding primary grades though quite common 
is to be severely condemned as a vicious practice. The 
little folks above all others should have the maximum amount 
of air space for breathing per capita. The problem pre- 
sented here is really the one as to how the air in a school 



The School 115 

may be changed. For, given the maximum amount of floor 
space, air enclosed in a room unless constantly renewed with 
fresh draughts becomes polluted and unfit for use even though 
there be no living being in it to draw off the oxygen of the air 
and charge it in turn with carbonic acid gas and putrefying 
animal matter. Hence in all of this the problem is one of 
procuring constantly fresh air and removing the " stale " 
air of the room. In schools where modern scientific methods 
and instruments are in use there are two generally accepted 
methods of accomplishing this. One of these methods be- 
cause of its dependence upon the principle of gravity is 
known as the gravity method. This is based on the differ- 
ence of the specific gravity or density between cold air and 
hot air. The cold air being more dense has greater molec- 
ular weight for a given amount hence is heavier than a like 
amount of warm air whose specific density and molecular 
weight is less, and as a result of this where cold air and warm 
air are brought together the warm air tends to and will actu- 
ally rise while the heavier cold air tends to and will actually 
fall. Thus where heat is brought into a school room there 
immediately is created by this mechanical process a motion 
of air particles which results in the gradual warming of all 
the air in the room, the warm air rising in the process and 
the cold air falling to the floor. In this motion of air me- 
chanically set up means of exit of the air being properly 
provided, the air generally finds its way, the warm air is ad- 
mitted on one side up near the ceiling and the cold air is 
given exit somewhere opposite near the floor. This system is 
at its best for service in still cold weather. The other method 
is a mechanical system whereby the motion of the air is con- 
trolled b}' a fan and forced through conduits in or out as 
the temperature desired may require. The fan may also 
exhaust the air in a room by means of suction, but the re- 
sults by this method ai'e not as satisfactory as by pressure. 
The motion of the air should be slow and diagonally across 
one side of the room. It should enter about two thirds of 
the way up the side of the wall and leave at a distance from 
the floor opposite not more than one foot above it if the 
best results are to prevail. In a room with a ceiling thir- 



116 Education in Theory and Practice 

teen feet from the floor it will be found best to have an air 
passage inward about nine feet up the wall. The air should 
of course be the purest obtainable and where practicable 
it would furnish the best results if its humidity were guar- 
anteed by its being drawn in over a constantly moistened 
gauze netting, which would extract from the air all dust with 
its possibility of contagion bearing germs and other forms 
of air polluting impurities. Even when well ventilated 
schools are unhealthy and the students sluggish because of 
the air being too warm. From sixty-eight to seventy de- 
grees Fahrenheit is considered a good lively working tempera- 
ture by most school authorities. However, on this point 
there is considerable difference of opinion, while also the heat- 
ing conditions of the home to which the child has been accus- 
tomed will enter in each particular individual and class of 
individuals as well as the conditions of health, feeding and 
clothing, to determine which is really the best working tem- 
perature for a child and for a school. Many eminent au- 
thorities both in Europe and America advocate temperatures 
as low as 65 degrees and 66 degrees Fahrenlieit for schools 
as the best for health and work. Some few authorities on 
the other hand advocate temperatures for comfort, health, 
work, as high as 72 degrees to 75 degrees Fahrenheit, the 
difference being explained by the personal equation element. 
Another element that enters to determine how Avarm air shall 
be is its humidity. For best results air must not be too dry. 
It must have a certain amount of moisture and if it is not 
there by nature it must be supplied by artifice. The pres- 
ence or absence of moisture in air determines its effect upon 
the body and the bodily functions to quite an extent as all 
of us have no doubt noticed in the difference of penetration in 
damp cold days and dry cold daj^s or in the difference in effect 
between damp hot (sultry) days and dry hot days. Cooks 
soon learn that you can steam a thing done before you can 
merely " cook " it done, the difference being due to the pres- 
ence or absence of moisture in the air. The air we breathe 
in " dry " weather possesses generally between 50% and 
75% of humidity. During " wet" weather it may range 
in humidity up to one hundred percent, which is the point 



The School 117 

of saturation, beyond which point the moisture descends as 
rain or snow. The air of a school room unaided mechanic- 
ally will possess between 30% and 45% of humidity and 
may at times fall as low as 25% or even 20%. This differ- 
ence in amount of humidity between the air of the school 
room and that of the open air makes imperative the need 
of adding to the humidity of the school room by various 
mechanical devices. This may be done by the simple method 
of keeping earthen jars of water in appropriate warm places. 
Dry air has been found to be favorable to taking coughs and 
colds and various forms of throat affections and bronchial 
troubles, the nightmare of singers and public speakers. 
Teachers grown old in the cause find the first signs of age 
and wearing down generally in failing voice such as a " rat- 
tling " in the throat and coughs brought on by the constant 
inhaling of the dry air of the school room. Besides this, 
air robbed of its humidity enervates and when very dry 
absorbs moisture from the pores of the skin and various ex- 
posed and accessible membranes of the body, causing irrita- 
tion and inflammation to delicate surfaces and dryness and 
roughness to the more hardened surfaces of the body. For 
heating purposes the need of storm doors for the entrances 
to all buildings is obvious. They not only offer double pro- 
tection but they prevent drafts and make the heat of the 
building more uniform. 

The means employed for heating schools are generally 
hot air, hot water, vapor and steam. Coal stoves are used 
in the less modern and less well equipped schools. Each has 
its advantage, hot air, hot water and steam are all popular 
now. Those heating systems that are fitted with self adjust- 
ing machinery are, of course, the best. Stoves, where in 
use, will be found to give the greatest satisfaction in a gen- 
eral way when they are located in a corner of the room and 
near the chimne}'. Their naturally small radiating surface 
often requires supplementing by additional means. The 
chief objection to stoves is that they require too much atten- 
tioii on the part of the teacher, that their heat is too vary- 
ing and the burning fuel pollutes the air. It is difficult to 
place a stove so as to give perfect heat satisfaction. In 



118 Education in Theory and Practice 

real cold weather as in mild weather those near the stove are 
over-heated and suffer oftentimes physically and always 
in their working efficiency, Avhile those farther away never get 
enough warmth and suffer correspondingly in health and 
working efficiency. Steam and hot water seem to offer least 
objections to health and working efficiency of all the methods 
of heating. They are both economical. Steam requires 
smaller radiators and is more easily regulated. Hot water 
seems to be more economical in material, but on the other 
hand requires more apparatus to furnish a greater radiat- 
ing surface. Returning to stoves, stove heat is always dry 
heat whose harmful tendencies and means of overcoming 
them by giving to it the proper amount of humidity we have 
already mentioned. The cleaning of the stove and caring 
for the fire produces much dust however careful one may be. 
This dust from the stove combined with the dust from shoes, 
clothes and crayon in board work surcharges the air, which 
becomes laden with decayed animal matter, carbonic acid 
gas and other cutaneous excretions breathed from the lungs 
and thrown off from the bodies of the pupils and other for- 
eign bodies present, thereby keeping the air of the room con- 
stantly polluted if not actually poisoned with contagious 
germs. If gas jets are present they will add to these animal 
poisons mineral poisons such as nitrous, carbonic, ammoniac 
and sulphurous gases. To offset and overcome these gases 
dust laden and germ bearing air ventilation must be con- 
stantly looked after, as must be the system and apparatus 
for ventilation and the whole kept always in perfect trim in 
order that this poisoned and poisoning air be constantly and 
fully removed. 

Its Lighting. INIuch was said about lighting schools un- 
der the discussions of the grounds and environment. How- 
ever some things more peculiar to the subject matter of light- 
ing schools omitted there will be mentioned here. To begin 
with the problem of lighting is a vital problem both to eyes 
and body and consequently to the kind and amount of ef- 
fective work done in the school. Light is a subtle phe- 
nomenon and its measurment is difficult and complicated be- 
sides requiring very delicate if not indeed costly apparatus. 



The School 119 

Again light measurements are too often entrusted to 
practical judgments which because of the nature of the 
problem make them untrustworthy. Where the light is un- 
obstructed by objects near windows on clear days it is very 
easy to light most rooms sufficiently. It is on dark and 
rainy days or in the early morning hours and late in the 
afternoon of the short winter days that the amount of light 
available in the darkest parts of the room requires aug- 
mentation and additional artificial or natural increase. 
Here the eyes should not be trusted. The amount of trans- 
parent glass surface advocated by specialists in this sub- 
ject is from 25% to 16% of the floor space on a general 
average. On clear days glass surface of 12% of the floor 
space would do, while on dark dreary days 25% is hardly 
sufficient to furnish the required light. The amount of light 
actually furnished and consequently the amount of glass sur- 
face necessary will vary in northern and southern exposures, 
and eastern and western exposures, being greater in northern 
and eastern exposures than in southern and western expos- 
ures. According to the figures given above the amount of 
glass surface required to furnish the requisite amount of 
light for a room 4?0 x 25 feet would average from 160 to 250 
feet. On dark days the amount of light required by a child 
with eyes of normal strength is said by one authority, Cohn, 
to be about fifty candle power (fifty standard candles burnt 
at the distance of one meter from the eye). Where the light 
available under natural diff'usion is insufficient additional 
light may be procured by artificially gathering it on sur- 
faces and reflecting it therefrom into those parts where 
and when desired. For this purpose glass plates ribbed 
after the pattern of the Luxfer prism may be used to the 
best advantage. When arranged in the sash or outside this 
ribbed glass or Luxfer prism can gather light from the win- 
dows or other sources of exposure, refract it and by cast- 
ing it upon proper receiving plates reflect it into the insuf- 
ficiently lighted portions of the room. 

The light itself, it is agreed, is most satisfactory when 
entering from the left. Light from the front is straining 
on the eyes, besides throwing shadows on the work on the 



120 Education in Theory and Practice 

desk. From the rear the body casts shadows on the work, 
thereby causing strain on the part of the pupil and is also 
a serious source of danger to the teacher's eyes, as it forms 
a constant glare to her front view. If more powerful than 
light from the left it is doubly objectionable. The light 
from the left is most free from any of these objections. 
Windows if located on an objectionable side of the room 
may have their harmful effects successfully counteracted by 
being eight or ten feet up from the floor, care being exer- 
cised to have the light thus obtained weaker than light from 
the left. The windows themselves, it is agreed, in order to 
be most favorable to light should be as near together as pos- 
sible, extend as near to the ceiling as possible (within six 
inches), the light being reflected from the ceiling but absorbed 
by the floor, desks and furnishings. The higher the sources 
of light, the greater the lighting effect, a fact which offers 
serious objections to arched windows. Window sills should 
in general be on a level with the eye. Some authorities ad- 
vocate five feet, some four and some as low as three and a 
half feet, the aim being to avoid the light from the lower 
part of the window producing reflections from the tops of 
the desks or being on the eye line when the pupils are seated. 
This aim would probably explain partly the differences in 
height advocated by various authorities. For primary 
grades the desks would be lower and the eye line correspond- 
ingly lower, while the desks would be higher as we pass from 
the lower to the higher grades and the eye line would rise 
accordingly. Hence, it is clear that window sills of rooms 
are to a great extent determined by the height of the pupils 
the room is intended to accommodate. If the demand for 
sufficient light on dark days is fully met, the light becomes 
too intense on bright, clear, sunshiny days, especially for 
those pupils near the windows. This inconvenience, how- 
ever, may be overcome by the use of proper colored window 
shades adjusted to unfold and roll up from the proper place 
of attachment, the window sill. The windows, from what 
has been said above, should be toward the rear and left side 
of the room to admit light over the shoulders and from the 
left. The walls and their color play a prominent part in 



The School 121 

the light effects of a room. To produce the best effects in 
color blend, the walls of the room should be of a greenish 
gray, the ceiling white and the window shades a tint but 
slightly darker than the walls. Tests have shown that this 
combination is the least objectionable of the colors of the 
spectrum from a general standpoint, inasmuch as the colors 
of the spectrum produce some violent nervous reaction wholly 
out of proportion to their capacity for absorbing light. 
This is the case with yellow wliich though it absorbs a min- 
imum amount of light is fatiguing and induces to a marked 
degree nervousness and irritability. All walls in a school 
room should be painted instead of white washed, but not 
polished or glossed, because they then become dangerous 
reflectors of light. 

Its SanitatioTi. A few words might be added here about 
the general sanitation of the school. To begin with health 
is preserved only by the utmost care and watchfulness. In 
the case of children this care and watchfulness must be fur- 
nished for them chiefly by the school and the home. Both 
teacher and parents should know the symptoms of the vari- 
ous children's diseases and the phj'sical signs of the changes 
due to mere growth and development. Health and exercise 
go hand in hand as do health and wholesome conditions of 
rest and labor, " Cleanliness is next to godliness." Not 
only must the decaying matter and residue from eating be 
removed from tlie teeth, but the hair must be kept clean 
and skin and nails also. Many contagious diseases are 
spread by the scales of the skin which the body throws off 
in its normal processes of waste and repair in growth. The 
nails in particular offer fit collecting places for all kinds of 
germs and many a case of serious even fatal blood poisoning 
has been started by scratching or picking an injured and 
perhaps itching part of the body with the finger nails, thus 
infecting it. Dust and disease are twin sisters. Where 
there is one the other may be expected to be also. Where 
through any cause a contagious disease breaks out there 
should be at once isolation, a physician called and the parents 
notified. Of the contagious diseases common to children and 
schools, diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, whooping cough, 



122 Education in Theory and Practice 

mumps and chicken pox are the most common and most 
dangerous. Chorea is common in some schools. It is a 
nervous affection and its presence is made manifest by the 
twitching of the hand, fingers or eyes and a general lack of 
muscular control especially in walking. The symptoms of 
these diseases together with other common forms of chil- 
dren's complaints should be familiarly known to all teachers 
and the fact remembered that infection long after the cure 
of the patient is apparently accomplished, and therefore, 
by oversight or neglect of the proper steps of isolation a new 
epidemic may break out. This may be brought on if the 
convalescing child or his clothes is allowed to come into con- 
tact with other pupils. Contagions may be started by 
breathing polluted air from the lungs or thrown off by other 
parts of the body under diseased conditions. To promote 
fully the general health of students and pupils the utmost 
cleanliness must be observed. The buildings should be 
swept daily and the rooms and furnishings cleaned thor- 
oughly. If books or pencils are used in common they should 
be disinfected each time before redistribution for use or over 
night after use. This is especially desirable in cases of 
contagion or known exposures. For this purpose commer- 
cial formalin sprayed in enclosures for books, if air tight, 
in the proportion of one unit (c.c.) of formalin to 300 units 
(c.c.) of air space makes a good disinfectant. The sources 
of water supply should be kept pure and the students should 
be encouraged, if not compelled, to use separate drinking 
cups. Where this cannot be controlled the drinking cups 
if possible should be left in running water. INIany cases of 
consumption, bronchial troubles, throat affections and ca- 
tarrh are contracted by pupils and persons drinking from 
cups where the germs have clung from the lips of infected 
persons. Water standing even though provided with mov- 
able lids is to be avoided for fear of contagion. Barrels or 
kegs with faucets are much to be preferred. In many mod- 
ern schools contagion is to be avoided by drinking fountains. 
But while the one danger of contagion is probably overcome, 
another perhaps equally great danger is risked. For drink- 
ing fountains deny the opportunity of examining the water 



The School 123 

that is being drunk which for all one may know contains other 
germs and bacilli equally dangerous as well as other small 
animals none of which can be seen and their intaking into the 
system avoided, as well as their deleterious effects from the 
diseases which they cause. 

Apart from the water and its dangers another set of 
evils beset the school in the form of closets. All toilets, 
closets and urinals arc breeding places of disease producing 
germs and air polluting gases. They should therefore be 
kept clean and free from arising odors and have separate 
means of ventilation. By all means they should be kept dry 
and well lighted. Toilets automatically cleaned and flooded 
are the best, those regularly and frequently cleaned are not 
dangerous. In modern times various forms of disinfectants 
and deodorizers are much in use. But while they have their 
value they generally hide many dangers most of which they 
are powerless to cure. It would be better for the general 
health of pupils and teacher if instead of commercial deodor- 
izers thorough cleaning should be more frequently resorted 
to. These points to health are simple but should be care- 
fully read and employed wherever possible by all teachers as 
precautions and preventatives. They will easily repay their 
cost in money, time and labor by their contribution in health 
and working efficiency. 

Its Purpose in the Community. From what has already 
been said in this chapter it is readily seen that the school 
besides dispensing knowledge has a large field of usefulness 
in the communit}'. Everything connected with the school 
should be orderl}^ and well regulated both as to grounds, 
building and school exercises. This kind of a lesson is of 
great value to the school children and the community. Noth- 
ing should be allowed to go forth from the school that is 
not of good qualit}', wholesome and elevating. Its every 
form and place should be in and of itself educative. There 
should be public gatherings both for pupils and patrons 
created and offered on the part of the school for all within 
its reach. Besides this the school is often and rightly so 
a place of assemblage for promulgating and transacting 
community business. In such cases the teacher should see 



124 Education in Theory and Practice 

to it that the commissioners or board through the janitors 
have the grounds and building well cared for, properly lighted 
and cleaned before and after use. The teacher himself should 
see to it that the building in such cases is in trim order, 
bespeaking cleanliness, if not refinement and culture, how- 
ever simple the furnishings, and then he should insist to the 
proper authorities upon its being kept and left as found. 
By these simple acts both teacher and school will grow in 
respect, force and influence in the community. The im- 
mediate purpose of the school in a community is to educate 
for service and to render service. The sum total capacity 
for happiness of any community should be increased by the 
school. The desire for happiness should be elevated and 
purified. The health of many living and working together 
and the power of thinking of the community all should re- 
spond to the kindly but intelligent touch of the properly or- 
ganized and operated school. 

REFERENCE READING 

Bagley's "The Educative Process." Chap. XXIII. 

Sharpless' " English Education." Appendix 3. 

Bolton's "Principles of Education." Chaps. XI, XII. 

Colgrave's * The Teacher and the School." Chap. XIII. 

Johonnot's " Principles and Practice of Teaching." Chap. XI. 

Fitch's " Lectures on Teaching." Chap. III. 

Baldwin's " School Management and School Methods." IV, VI, VII. 

Perry's " The Management of a City School." Chap. VI. 

Collar & Crook's " School Management and Methods of Instruction." 

Chap. II. 
Garlick's " A New Manual of Methods." Chap. I. 
Bailey & Burrage's " School Sanitation and Decoration." Chaps. Ill, 

V, VI, X. 



CHAPTER VI 
THE SCHOOLROOM 

Its Supervision and Control 

All of the formal educational agencies center around 
the schoolroom. It is preeminently the school. Here it 
is that the chief functions of the school are carried on, here 
the problems of chara,cter formation and knowledge im- 
parting present themselves in all of their varieties and stub- 
bornness day in and day out, month in and month out, for a 
solution both adequate and appropriate for the demands of 
this particular day and generation ; here all of the forces of 
formal education must be controlled, diligently directed and 
unceasingly applied upon the crude working material as 
presented, if the educational ideal of the country is to be 
even partly realized. The classroom is the ideal unit in all 
educational systems. It presents every form and phase of 
problems known to formal education. This was true of the 
schoolroom even in its early history when education as for- 
mally outlined and conducted was a luxury afforded only by 
the rich and the school consisted of a few or even a single 
pupil and a single teacher. With us to-day, when popular 
or mass education is the order of the day and the school- 
room contains anywhere from a few students selected for 
their special abilities and special material means of develop- 
ing these abilities to nearl}' a hundred miscellaneously gath- 
ered and with various capacities for taking on education 
either in the groups in our rural schools or those in our 
highly congested urban schools the problems of educa- 
tion as known to the ancients, have changed but little in form 
and essence except perhaps in so far forth as to become in- 
finitely more complicated and difficult of solution. The 
question of the size of the schoolroom and the number of 

125 



126 Education in Theory and Practice 

pupils and grades it should contain has always been a prob- 
lem. Various authorities place the ideal number of students 
for work and supervision at from twenty to thirty-five, 
twenty-three being accepted by a majority as the ideal class. 
But whatever the number of pupils, conditions of congestion 
or lack of funds may force into the schoolroom, its problems 
arising therefrom must be met and solved, if the educational 
work devolving upon it is to be in any way carried on suc- 
cessfully. The real problem of the schoolroom is that of 
time, closely followed by that of energy. Both must be used 
freely and j^et conserved judiciously. The great question 
in school economy is the economy of time and energy. So 
important have these problems been realized to be that the 
" National Education Association " has had a sub-committee 
at work to investigate how the time in the school is used and 
how economy in its use might be affected. A similar investi- 
gation has been carried on by the present U. S. Commissioner 
of Education.^ From both of these sources valuable sug- 
gestions have come, which, however, cannot be embodied 
here. How therefore, to control and direct the activity 
of all of the pupils in a schoolroom in such a way as to get 
the best possible results in imparting knowledge and forming 
character obtainable, in the least time and with the least 
expenditure of effort in pupil and teacher is the paramount 
problem of the schoolroom. This makes two things in school 
processes necessary, order first and then precision in all 
school movements and exercises, that is, economy of time and 
energy in the performance of all school duties. 

The Supervision of the Schoolroom. INIuch has been writ- 
ten in treatises on school economy concerning the use and 
direction of time and effort in school. In it all there have 
been a variety of opinions, but all agree that proper super- 
vision of the school on the part of the teacher is the primary 
requisite. This supervision is to begin at the beginning of 
school on the first day and to extend throughout that day 
and on through that 3'ear and on through all of tlio years 
of the entire educational process. It is to extend from the 
playground to the recitation seat. It is to be less direct and 
1 See U. S. Bureau of Education, 1913, Bulletin No. 38. 



The Schoolroom 127 

special as age and experience in school routine and school 
work bring power of self direction, of control and of individu- 
ality. That is to say, school supervision must be always 
and everywhere in evidence both to prohibit and inhibit, 
passing from the former to the latter as with age and ex- 
perience self direction grows upon the pupils. The teacher 
must always be on the alert. His eyes must be " all seeing " 
and his ears " all hearing." From the first hour of school 
every pupil should be taught to feci that the teacher can 
both see and know all that goes on in a room and even much 
that is only about to go on in it. He must be able, if he 
would control all situations, to detect mischief even in the 
making and to tell the trend of conduct almost before it 
actually issues into conduct. The aim of supervision in 
education is the production of good moral character and in- 
tellectual activitiy. If it fails to do this it has failed in 
its first and most elementary function. According as it 
succeeds or fails in these regards school government is either 
good government or bad government. But there are many 
reasons why school governments above all forms of govern- 
ment should be good government. To begin with this is the 
first contact of the child outside of the home with tangible 
rules and regulations arbitrarily administered by unrelated 
agents. If here he is allowed to learn that laws are lax and 
their enforcement intermittent and uncertain he has learned 
a very harmful lesson, one that may turn out to be the first 
lesson in the disregard for and transgression of law, the 
first step perhaps toward the jail, the penitentiary and even 
the hangman's post or electric chair. The result of any such 
failure on the part of the school, is especially injurious to pu- 
pils being prepared for citizenship in democratic countries 
— republics where the meaning and force of law and the re- 
sults of their breaking need be so well impressed upon the 
growing child as a direct and important part of the prepara- 
tion for the assumption of the coming duties of good citi- 
zenship. 

The Nature of Supervision. All teachers have seen cases 
of successful supervision and cases of unsuccessful super- 
vision. The causes of the success or failure have in most 



128 Education in Theory and Practice 

cases been quite evident. We have said that a teacher must 
be all seeing and all hearing. This by no means makes it 
necessary that the teacher call the attention of the pupil 
or pupils to every little disorder in the room. Much in 
the schoolroom may be passed over as of no importance in 
supervision. Many pupils will deliberately do things to 
attract the attention of the teacher or to disturb other pupils 
about them. To follow such pupils up in their little acts 
is often to do just what they desire, namely to call attention 
to them, magnify their acts and let them know that they are 
a source of annoyance to the school in which instance so- 
called " bad cases " may result. It is much better that 
these should be treated either indifferently or quietly directed 
to some sort of activity in harmony with the acti^'ity of the 
other pupils. There is, however, a certain kind and amount 
of noise and disorder necessary in every schoolroom. It is 
the noise and disorder of Avork. While this kind of noise 
and disorder should be invited, it should also be controlled 
and reduced to a minimum. Such noise and disorder is a joy 
to the teacher. He knows then that everybody is at his 
or her work. It may be the movements in the seat, that from 
seat to seat or that from seat to blackboard, to the teacher's 
desk or to some remote part of the room for some tool or in- 
strument of labor, that causes disorder or noise, but in it 
all there is that conscious satisfaction so utterly wanting 
when there is noise and disorder without resulting work or 
results from work. Children come to school to work, to bo 
taught and to be trained. It is to attain this end that su- 
pervision is necessary and is prevalent in schoolrooms. It 
aims to give the best possible working conditions for study 
and learning. In the schoolroom where we have to deal with 
the variety of individuals present in mass education, it is 
necessary that in the mass the individual be not neglected, 
but that he be given at times special consideration. Super- 
vision is high class only when it enables each pupil to receive 
special bits of attention without the work of the class as a 
whole suffering thereby. Unfortunately in our wellfilled, 
if not crowded schoolrooms we are to too great an extent 
compelled to neglect the individual pupil. Individual train- 



The Schoolroom 129 

ing is lost sight of in the effort to attain group training. 
Our school plans are laid out for an ideal " average pupil " 
who docs not exist and all of our cfTorts are directed toward 
his education. Such a method of education is and must be 
on the whole fruitless of results as most teachers have found 
out by practice. Life is an individual affair. And so must 
the best forms of education be individual education if it is 
to fit one for life. Where an overcrowded curriculum or an 
overfilled schoolroom will not permit individual education the 
teacher must approximate the work of the school to the needs 
of all and still endeavor to satisfy the needs of this average 
pupil in order that he may do lasting and fruitful work. 
School work fails chiefly in that it is not individualistic but 
general. If Ave educated a general or average ideal pupil 
then education might well be general or ideal. But what we 
labor with in the schoolroom is not an average, general or 
ideal pupil, but a special, concrete individual pupil or groups 
of pupils as individuals and as such we must endeavor to edu- 
cate him or them specifically and in detail. 

Time and Energy in School Processes. The chief prob- 
lems of the schoolroom revolve as v^^as said upon the ques- 
tions of time and energy. The energy naturally in the child 
is sufficient (often more than sufficient) for the ordinary rou- 
tine of school without any special attempt at conservation 
on the part of the teacher. With time it is different. There 
is generally too little time rather than enough or too much 
of it. Time conservation then becomes the greater of the 
two problems in the schoolroom. Especially is this true in 
the graded school or where there is more than one grade in 
a room to be handled by one teacher. While, therefore, all 
school supervision has for its main purpose the conserva- 
tion of time, in the rural ungraded school especially the ques- 
tion of time conservation easily takes first place. Much, 
almost too much has to be crowded into the brief school day 
with its still briefer recitation periods. On the problem of 
time conservation in the schoolroom much thought and ex- 
perimentation have been spent. Further, it is agreed by all 
who have given study to the question that the teacher can 
do much toward this end by applying method and devising 



130 Education in Theory and Practice 

routine to save time for study and learning and thereby re- 
duce the waste of time in the performance of the necessary 
schoolroom functions to a minimum. These methods and 
devices are either physical or spiritual. The physical aids 
to the supervision of the schoolroom are the proper seating of 
the pupil based on a study of their temperament and social 
compatibility, the proper seating of pupils based on a study 
of the fitness of the seats in size, in their proximity to the 
light and heat, and in their access to ventilation (fresh air 
supply), in the general attractiveness of the schoolroom and 
in the general movements in and about the room. The spir- 
itual method or devices for good supervision are tact, com- 
mon sense, discretion, sympathy, pleasantness of manner, 
skill in handling pupil and subject matter, scholarship, en- 
thusiasm, and a general high tension with quickened sense 
activity. 

Physical Aids to Successful Supervision. Proper seating. 
The bodily comfort of a pupil has much to do with his 
mental energy and will power. The problem of seats has 
already been discussed in the previous chapter and a little 
was said incidentally about seating. Seating of pupils can 
add or detract much from the general student habits and 
abilities of a pupil. Bodily discomforts besides fretting a 
pupil and making him peevish and irritable exhaust the 
bodily energy, use up energy that should be available for 
effort in the mastery of lessons and in the movements re- 
quired for the recitation proper. The pupil worn out by 
the restless turning, because of the pain in the pelvic region, 
brought on by improper curvature in the desk seat, or legs 
tired from dangling in the air, or from faulty support for 
the back from the desk chair, is in no way mentally fit, either 
to receive or retain the subject matter presented in the lesson 
or appreciate the general manner of the teacher or the at- 
titude of his fellows. Many a pupil otherwise bright and 
easily controlled loses hold upon himself and his lessons be- 
cause of the exhaustion brought on by sitting in a desk seat 
which is not properly adjusted to his height nor to the gen- 
eral contour of the body in its natural positions when seated. 
In the cases of highly sensitive temperaments the effect from 



Tlie Schoolroom 181 

the strain produced by improper seat adjustment and seat 
accommodation is quickly noticeable. There is a like re- 
sponse to light, heat and ventilation. Children with poor 
or defective eyes when seated at a distance from the lighting 
surface, because of the strain caused by working in poor 
light soon become fatigued and before long the exhausted 
energies and lagging movements will show themselves in the 
form of indisposition to do, and other forms of reaction 
that make for poor school work. Under the influence of 
certain stimuli, such as promise of reward, desire for high 
grades, love of emulation, or fear of rebuke, or punishment, 
the will may revive or spur on the flagging energies, but soon 
they will fail to respond to the will and the usefulness of 
the school processes at least for the time being, are at an 
end. This is one explanation of the poor work of students 
on cloudy days, another being that the absence of sunlight 
produces retardation in all of the bodily functions, thereby 
making the vital functions low and the energy generated 
small in quantity in comparison with that produced on bright 
sunshining days. 

Fresh Air, The action of fresh air obtained in a school- 
room through ventilation is similar to that of light. Fresh 
air increases the vital functions and the number of red 
corpuscles in the blood. The bodily processes thereby are 
quickened and deoxidation with its consequent generation 
of heat and the production of waste material is aided by 
fresh air. Thus in the normal schoolroom good ventilation 
is necessary, not alone for the general health of all, but is 
necessary also for the energy made available thereby for 
the schoolroom work and activity. Now it is a fact that 
deoxidation goes on normally more rapidly in some pupils 
than in others and in the case of disease and sickness the same 
is true. This means that it requires more fresh air for 
the same results in some pupils than in others, and that 
some pupils may Avith benefit have more ventilation in a 
room than others. Where this is impossible the best results 
can be obtained by falling back on the proposition of seating. 
Such pupils may be seated nearer the source of the fresh 
air supply than others. This will be found to give more 



132 Education in Theory and Practice 

nearly the desired results. The same is true in the case of 
the heat produced by deoxidation and functional activity. 
These generate the bodily heat and maintain the bodily 
temperature and are affected noticeably by the temperature 
and ventilation of the room. Since these processes vary in 
strength in different individuals it obviously follows that 
some pupils will not only be able to stand more heat than 
others, but some will actually require more heat for their 
bodily comfort than others. All teachers have met in their 
experiences with the pupil who is eternally annoying them 
because always too warm as well as he who is doing the same 
because eternally too cold. They have also had them ex- 
hibiting all of the intervening stages of bodily temperature 
requirements. But not only can these circumstances not 
be avoided, but they are vital in the schoolroom. Their 
careful observance means first of all much in health to the 
pupil, and not only this but that which is of equal concern 
to know here, they mean much to the working efficiency of 
the pupil and successful supervision on the part of the 
teacher. Pupils whose energies ai'e taxed unduly to furnish 
the required amount of heat for the body, whether because 
the temperature of the room is unduly low or because the air 
does not furnish the amount of oxygen necessary for vigorous 
vital function as well as those whose energies are exhausted 
by overcoming strain produced by an overdemand on the 
part of the body to accommodate itself to any normal con- 
dition in the environment of the schoolroom, are in a cor- 
responding degree disabled and their power for work de- 
creased, whereupon time not only is not conserved but all 
of the school processes suffer accordingly. The true im- 
port of these questions to the pupil cannot be overestimated. 
Anything in the schoolroom which tends to bodily comfort 
or mental ease and satisfaction raises the working efficiency 
of the school and conserves time in a way little realized by 
most teachers. School esthetics such as pictures and paint- 
ings on the wall, ever^^thing of a decorative or artistic nature 
indirectly affects the attitude and manner of pupil and 
teacher and reacts upon their work. 

Mechanism in the Schoolroom, In reducing the super- 



The Schoolroom 133 

vision of the schoolroom to a minimum and raising the work- 
ing efficiency to a maximum, much can be done by mechaniz- 
ing the school movements. There is, however, serious op- 
position among modern and advanced educators to reducing 
school movements to a mechanism. The modern tendency 
in education is toward individualism, with all of the freedom 
of development and independence of action which the word 
implies. Consequently it is not surprising to see the most 
penetrative minds and trenchant pens directed against the 
introduction of mechanism into the movements of the school- 
room. However, in our schoolrooms which are crowded with 
pupils and with the curriculum too large for both pupils and 
teacher, a demand for time conservation and a high working 
efficiency is bound to creep in and make itself felt impera- 
tively. For the benefit of these it will be well to discuss the 
problem of mechanism in the schoolroom, and see its good 
points as well as its bad points and leave its application and 
uses in the schoolroom to the intelligence and discretion of 
the individual teacher. Education as promulgated and 
fostered by the state is for the purpose of producing a good 
citizenship. As governments change the type of citizenship 
will change and the forms of education fostered by the state 
will soon be so modified as to produce a modified citizenship 
in accordance with the changing political views and duties. 
It might with more truth be said that one is reciprocally 
reactive upon the other, the institutions of government and 
the institutions of education change together. In the past 
when governments ruled by mere force and citizens were the 
mechanical cogs in the machinery of government who followed 
law in a blind mechanical way, the pupil was prepared for 
this kind of citizenship by a school routine that reduced all 
of his movements to a mechanism, and by force (corporal 
punishment) compelled him without explanation or enlight- 
ment to follow the arbitrary instruction and will of the 
teacher. With the rise of government from this level to a 
higher one of freedom processes have looked more to a de- 
velopment of freedom of action and individualism in thought. 
This advanced method in education has gained a powerful 
hold in the schoolroom. But the old school of educators 



134 Education i7i Theory and Practice 

are not going to give up without a struggle. There is to be 
sure much of merit in the claims of each. It is true that 
the niceties of mechanism are used by many a poor teacher as 
a ready cover for many of his faults in teaching that would 
otherwise stand out glaringly. In fact the chief complaint 
against mechanism in school routine is that it is the harbor 
too often sought by the incompetent teacher. The teacher 
confident in his ability, full of enthusiasm and winning in 
manner frets under the strain and restraint of a stolid 
mechanism. He is desirous of freedom botli in himself and 
in the pupil under his supervision. The opponents of me- 
chanical routine believe that conduct should come from within 
and not be forced upon the pupil from without. With 
these all pupils should be self-governed. In fact so thor- 
oughly has this idea of education dominated our present 
day educational methods that the hands of government of 
some schools of higher learning are left almost entirely to the 
students themselves. While under the same idea in the 
public schools of many cities the inhibition of self-activity 
by corporal punishment has been forbidden under the plea 
that child activity should not be crushed but rather be per- 
suaded and guided into a strong individuality by the rational 
method of being told the whys and wherefors of everything 
required of him. On the other hand the advocates of the 
mechanical routine argue that the child of the graded school 
and especially of the lower grades is not prepared for self- 
government and cannot therefore successfully govern him- 
self. Hence their claim that he should be forced to do some 
things recognized to be for his own good whether he wishes 
to or not without being told the whys and wherefors, and 
this too even if corporal punishment is necessary to accom- 
plish the desired end. All of the intermediate stages be- 
tween mechanism of routine and freedom in school process 
have their advocates. Experiment and experience, however, 
have proved that some children require more mechanical 
movements in school while others require less, and that the 
higher the grade of pupils the more in each will be found 
who can be trusted to govern themselves. So that at bottom 
the question is not as to whether or not there should be mech- 



The Schoolroom 135 

anism in schoolroom movements, but how much is required 
to get the desired results of conservation of time and work- 
ing efficiency Avith the least loss of individual activity on 
the part of the pupil. This must be left to the teacher and 
his judgment of the needs of his pupils and the work re- 
quired of him. The value of mechanical movements in the 
schoolroom no one of any experience will deny. Lessons 
in law, order, regularity and concerted action are of ines- 
timable value to the young growing mind. What kind of 
characters would otherwise evolve from the home and the 
school, we can all picture quite vividly in the imagination. 
No parent desires a child nor does the state a citizen, that 
has no sense of concerted action or cooperation, as it is 
sometimes called, while one who has no conception of regu- 
larity and precision of group consciousness and orderly 
action, is equally undesirable both as a companion in the 
home, in society and in the state. However, there are co- 
gent reasons against the mechanizing of school movements, 
many of which are decidedly opposed to the modern educa- 
tional tendency toward individualism, self-activity and self- 
government. In group activity the individual is too prone 
to lose self-consciousness in the presence of group conscious- 
ness. This tendency needs to be corrected rather than en- 
couraged. Again, however, it might be added that there are 
some spirits which are sufficiently self-assertive and free to 
overcome all influences directed toward mechanical action 
and group consciousness and press toward self expression, 
and individual thought and action. For those less strongly 
impelled in the direction by nature the presence of mechanical 
movements in the schoolroom can hardly be said to be a 
benefit. 

The opposition to the reduction of the schoolroom move- 
ments to a mechanical routine has justification that is funda- 
mental and which lies at the bottom of our physical and 
mental structure. The school aims to fit one for the activi- 
ties of life. Now for success in life we need the power and 
the desire to take the initiative, that is, the ability to meet 
and cope successfulh' with the emergencies, the crises of life. 
Mechanism deadens if it does not destroy the tendency to 



136 Education in Theory and Practice 

initiative action. In life we need a high power of reflection 
for the solution of novel experiences, thought compelling 
surprises and the intricate problems of life. Mechanical 
routine in school movements tends to weaken both reason and 
judgment. In life we need independence of action and self- 
assertiveness in thought to lead us to discovery and inven- 
tion and the consequent material advance which they afford 
us in life and habits of living. Mechanical routine stifles 
both independence of action and self-assertiveness in thought. 
Self-government and individualism are the under-lying prin- 
ciples in all forms of democratic government in fact are a 
necessity for its very existence and perpetuation. The ar- 
bitrary and despotic rule blindly initiated and more blindly 
enforced destroys both the nascent power for self-govern- 
ment and the innate tendency to individualism. The mind 
to be at its best must have freedom of action. Minds re- 
stricted in action tend to become weaker. The body to be 
developed to its fullest capacity must have full and free play 
for the exercise of every normal function. Hence any sys- 
tem of training and education which has as its basis restric- 
tion and curtailment of action is at best faulty and vicious. 
Consequently the onh' justification that restriction in action 
and mechanization of routine can possibly have is that it 
conserves time and raises the working coeflicient of the school- 
room. This is its sole reason of being, its only justification. 
To make it serve any other purpose in the schoolroom is to 
vitiate the purpose of the schoolroom processes and to rob 
mechanization of all usefulness as a school method. 

The mechanization of schoolroom routine should be begun 
on the school grounds with some agreed upon signal as a warn- 
ing signal of the approach of the opening hour. Following 
this in order of time at least should come those for forming 
lines, followed at the proper interval by those to " mark 
time " and " march." Orderly lines with good posture and 
carriage and even step leave a pleasing effect upon the 
visitor and has a tendency to inspire respect and obedience 
on the part of the pupil. These mechanical processes of 
entering and leaving and proceeding to and from the rooms 
should be succeeded by like ones in the schoolroom itself, 



The Schoolroom 137 

if mechanical routine is to be of greatest service in the 
school work. This routine process should also extend 
throughout the school year. Demand for such mechanical 
movements is presented in class movements to and from the 
blackboards and recitation benches and in the passing and 
collecting of the various working material of the pupils, such 
as maps, books, papers, pencils, etc., and even in the dis- 
tributing and collecting of wraps. By having a place for 
everybody and everything connected with the school and 
school routine, and by having things taken from their places 
and returned to them in order and with regularity much time 
is saved, to say nothing of the wholesome and salutary effect 
of such conditions upon the mind of the pupil. Too, efforts 
to obtain neatness and uniformity in work should not be 
omitted from the mechanical movements of the schoolroom, 
if they are to bring out most that is good in them. The de- 
tail for such mechanical movements cannot be gone into 
here. The teacher must devise his own scheme and code of 
signals as the equipment of the schoolroom and the age of 
the pupils in the schoolroom make necessary. These mat- 
ters can be worked out in detail to suit the wishes of the in- 
dividual teachers, care being exercised always to regard 
these matters not as an end in itself in schoolroom supervi- 
sion but only as a means to the conservation of time and 
the increase of the working efficiency of the pupil. Put to 
any other purpose mechanical routine has little place in the 
schoolroom processes and little or no justification in educa- 
tional systems. 

Mechanical routine in the schoolroom even when used ju- 
diciously and sparingly creates much extra work for the 
teacher. This work it is customary to detail upon monitors. 
The habit of selecting monitors is a matter fraught with con- 
siderable danger to the general wellbeing of the school and 
the pupil unless much care is exercised in employing the right 
to select pupils for such work. All pupils, the good and 
the bad alike like to be monitors. On a principle of absolute 
justice all alike have an equal right to be chosen for monitor 
duty. In order therefore that all be given an equal chance 
at the opportunity, on a basis of merit that is openly fair to 



138 Education in Theory and Practice 

all, some method of selecting them should be adopted and 
made known to all before hand. By no means is it a good 
method to let the selection of monitors be known to be a 
matter of personal preference of the teacher, or that it is 
used to pay for special personal favors. Monitorships be- 
stowed for excellence in deportment or any line of work can- 
not but have a good effect on the morals of the school and 
call forth a responsive cord among the pupils. Nothing 
breaks in upon the order of the school, affects for worse its 
working capacity, and lowers the esteem of the teacher in 
the eyes of the pupils than a system of petty favoritism. 
Of course, some pupils will do our work better than others, 
but be that as it may in general the best results in the school- 
room will obtain if we pick our pupils for their various serv- 
ices upon a common basis of merit, so determined that all will 
know that they have an equal chance in the struggle. For 
matters of supervision and government it will pay, once we 
have through the announced process chosen a pupil as moni- 
tor and he prove unsatisfactory to have patience and train 
him rather than to pass liim b}' or dismiss him (unkss in cases 
of punishment for acts of willful carelessness or other faults 
which he exhibits as willful) and thereby let him know that 
he has no chance to become a monitor whatever might be his 
general virtues in the school processes and the school rou- 
tine. The force of this suggestion cannot be overestimated. 
Here is a stumbling block for many a teacher who finds that 
his pupils dislike him and cannot tell why. Teachers often 
fail from causes arising out of such errors of judgment of 
real fairness. A safe way always is to dispense favors 
generally. In this connection too it may be added inci- 
dtntally that many a time a notoriously bad pupil may be 
won over for his everlasting good by a Avell bestowed favor 
at the hands of a discreet teacher. 

Social Surrounding as an Aid to Supervision. As im- 
portant as are the questions of mechanical routine and 
physical comfort of the pupil from the viewpoint of their 
access to the necessary amount of light, heat and ventilation 
they are perhaps secondary in importance to their access 
to favorable and comfortable social surrounding-s. The most 



The Schoolroom 139 

inexperienced teacher soon becomes aware of the fact that 
certain pupils are more or less susceptible to certain social 
influences of the schoolroom. In general the social compati- 
bility of pupils varies. Some pupils are at home anywhere 
in the schoolroom, while others have few friends and gain 
these few slowh- and are content to sit only in that immediate 
neighborhood. When seated in one section of the room in 
the midst of one group of pupils, a pupil may be very talka- 
tive and disorderly, or on the other hand silent and industri- 
ous. Then again a new social environment in the schoolroom 
may have one efl^ect upon a given pupil for a while, but as 
the surrounding pupils become known to the pupil newly 
come into their midst, these previous attitudes may change 
and show themselves in his conduct for better or for worse. 
Boys and girls much given to disturbing the quiet of the room 
by their talk or play may be successfully quieted by being 
placed among pupils who will not talk with them and who 
will resent being disturbed in their quiet and work. Mis- 
behaved pupils may often with advantage be disposed of in 
like manner. Lazy pupils too may at times be aroused to 
work by being moved into the midst of a group of industri- 
ous pupils and their ambitions thereby aroused to the extent 
where it will arouse them to action. These statements are 
not only based upon a wide and varied experience and ex- 
periment but are based upon fundamental qualities in human 
nature. In a like manner it is known that some pupils do 
well nearer the teacher's desk, the source of power, control 
and the exercise of arbitrary authority. Such pupils soon 
become conscious of any distance between them, and the 
source of control and feeling that they are to more extent 
out of reach of such power, and can therefore do certain 
things Avithout being detected and punished will attempt 
many more things that tend to upset the order of the room. 
There are also in every room pupils who will be well behaved 
in any part of the room far from the teacher's desk or near 
it. There are also in some rooms at times pupils who will 
hardly behave in any part of it, at least not until a great 
effort is brought to bear to force good behavior. The 
former the teacher can use as a leavening power to raise the 



140 Education in Theory and Practice 

order and working efficiency of the room by use of good judg- 
ment in their seating. The latter must either be conquered 
by some harsh or diplomatic measures or if despaired of he 
may be removed by suspension or expulsion or as is done in 
some city schools, he may be sent to the school for incor- 
rigibles. With these facts before him the judicious teacher 
can so seat his pupils from the viewpoint of social com- 
patibility that his supervision necessary for control will be 
reduced to a minimum. 

In the seating of pupils, however, the bad or unruly pupil 
is not the only one to be considered. If we did this we 
would place a premium upon badness or unruliness. In gen- 
eral we seat pupils in the schoolroom according to their size 
and age and sometimes in ungraded schools or in schools 
where more than one class is in one room we seat them by 
classes. Attention has already been called to the method 
of seating to satisfy the individual demands for light, heat 
and ventilation as well as to satisfy the demand for certain 
sizes of desk, height of desk tops and seat and seat backs. 
Apart from these considerations the well behaved pupil is 
due some consideration if for no other reason than that he 
is well behaved. It is very often a punishment to annoy 
well behaved hard-working students by putting into their 
midst ill behaved, lazy ones. And the practice is above all 
other things to be strongly condemned on general principles. 
Besides making the good, industrious student suffer for be- 
ing such it is making him carry the burden of discipline and 
government when it should rest in reality upon the teacher. 
This side of the question should be well weighed by every 
teacher before going into the proposition of seating for con- 
duct and work only. Besides that, there is always present 
the danger of having the good pupil corrupted by the bad 
one. In all cases of seating for ease and facility of super- 
vision then, the good pupil should not be hampered to any 
great extent in his work or his habits otherwise of good work 
and conduct endangered. Where he is used as a means of 
tempering the conduct of another pupil, the moment the so- 
cial contact is found to have a harmful effect upon him either 
in weakening his power of moral restraint or in fretting liim 



Tlie Schoolroom 141 

and decreasing his working efficiency, the annoying presence 
should be removed. With this care, thougli that method 
of checkmating bad children in their acts by removing them 
to different and often better social environment is often seri- 
ously condemned, it is I think safe to say that it may be 
jjracticed discreetly for ends of minimunl" supervision and 
maximum working efficiency. In the case of putting lazy 
and indolent pupils in the midst of bright industrious ones 
the danger of tempting the lazy ones to prey upon and copy 
off of the smart, as Avell as having the tendency to become 
lazy, spread and infect the others, must be carefully watched 
for and guarded against and a change of seat arrangement 
made at the first signs of contamination. 

Psychical Aids to Supervision, Besides these physical 
means of stimulating the child to work and giving him certain 
physical aids in his environment in pursuing his work and 
thereby conserving both his time and energy and raising 
the working efficiency of the school, there are certain mental 
attitudes which when possessed by the teacher do much to- 
ward promoting the facility and the rapidity of the work. 
By the judicious exercise of good common sense (a word 
which all know and understand, but which few if any can 
satisfactorily define), the school processes can be developed 
to a high degi'ee of efficiency. Common sense has been wit- 
tingly defined as sense in common things. Accepting this 
definition of the word it is evident that common sense is Avhat 
every teacher needs who would be a success in the work of the 
schoolroom. This provides a cure for every ill, whether it 
be due to light, heat, ventilation, seating, seats, laziness of 
pupil, social compatibility or what not, a resourceful common 
sense will adjust it satisfactorily to all and to the best good 
of the sclioolroom and its processes. Some authors recentW 
have named this quality of mind " tact." But whether we 
know it by the name of tact or common sense it is that quality 
of mind that enables one to meet successfully the emergen- 
cies in the affairs of life and which must be constantly in 
evidence in the schoolroom for the best good of all concerned. 
In its finest and most practical form it enables one almost 
instinctively to do the right thing in the right way and at 



143 Education in Theory and Practice 

the right time. The greatest problem of a teacher is to 
think and feel with the pupils, to put himself in the pupil's 
place mentally. Unless this can be done successfully the 
teacher often falls into the serious error of inferring 
wrong motives in child action. The fact is much of the 
action of children is unmotivated (without conscious motive, 
but rather impulsive and unreflective). In such cases any 
motive inferred or ascribed to an act would of course be the 
wrong motive. Teachers inclined to attribute motives to 
child action soon get the reputation among the pupils of 
being unfair and unreasonable and immediately fall heir to 
the entire train of consequent ills of bad supervision with its 
resulting dissipation of time and energy and low working 
efficiency. Out of common sense discretion and s^anpathy 
come. No one can put themselves into the place of chil- 
dren and not sympatize with them. The fact is a truism. 
S3'mpathy with a child means of necessity a complete under- 
standing of child nature even down to its emotions, impulses 
and strong tendencies to action. Sympathy soon touches 
a responsive cord in all but the morally depraved and some- 
times even he can be finally reached by persistence. Stability 
in character, evenness in temper and consistency in using 
and enforcing rules all are strong guarantees of success for 
the teacher. 

Next in importance to these as aids in raising tlie working 
efficiency of the schoolroom are a pleasant manner, skill 
in handling subject matter of the lesson, general evidences 
of scholarship and a high moral conception, with a daily 
evidence of exemplary conduct. It has been said that in the 
economy of life pleasures tend to increase life's activities, 
while pain tends to decrease these. The organism in its 
efforts to live, seeks to gain and retain pleasurable states of 
mind and body, while it seeks on the other hand to overcome 
and avoid painful states. It is also a fact obtained through 
the same processes of reasoning that we tend to retain i\ell 
the conceptions of pleasures and tend to forget quickly the 
conceptions of pain. But whether there be any claims in 
truth in these conclusions or not, certain it is, that a pleasant 
mannered teacher working in a pleasantly arranged and 



Th£ Schoolroom 143 

equipped schoolroom under pleasant mental conditions does 
by far the most effective, rapid and lasting work. The 
brain and bodily organs function better under such an en- 
vironment and the mind operates better. The children them- 
selves soon notice the difference and learn to anticipate the 
pleasant teacher and the pleasant comfortable schoolroom, 
while the effects produced upon them are easily more lasting. 
The cross, scowling unreasonable and inconsistent teacher 
in the uninviting schoolroom soon finds an uninviting group 
of pupils in the room doing uninviting work. A pleasant 
manner on the part of the teacher is of great value in the 
schoolroom but is only at its best when coupled with skill 
in handling the subjects taught and other evidences of scliol- 
arship in general. Pupils like to feel that their teacher 
possesses knowledge, that kind of knowledge which is power. 
Indeed, we are all admirers of people who possess such knowl- 
edge. Children in particular are worshippers of this kind 
of " heroes." IMany a poor teacher, unpopular and inef- 
fective has suddenly found himself successful, because of 
some accidental evidence of skill and power. This does not 
mean, however, that teachers are to make " exhibit bees " 
of themselves before the pupils, nor boast to them of their 
unexhibited prowess. It is always safe and becoming though 
for teachers to do whatever it becomes their manifest duty 
to do and to do that not only well but with excellence. Un- 
preparedness in any emergency is a serious situation for any 
teacher to meet, who would maintain a high regard and 
consequent control over his students. Modern pedagogics 
since the rise of physical education advocates the presence 
at, supervision of, and participation in, the games of the 
pupils on the playgrounds by the teacher. Here discretion 
is always necessary that he not enter into those games in 
which he is not apt or in which he has only poor execution. 
The moral effect of the effort to do what others do without 
effort or failure in the attempt is far reaching in its effect 
upon the hold the teacher may have upon the pupils and will 
detract materially from his future supervision over and con- 
trol of them. Pupils are all quick to make comparisons and 
suggest criticisms. The teacher cannot long successfully 



144J Education in Theory and Practice 

endure either the comparison if unfavorable or the criticism 
if adverse. We have in another place touched upon the hy- 
giene of the school and grounds and much was said there 
that might have come here. 

The Effect of Health and Hygienic Conditions upon 
Stipe^'vision. In the earlier parts of this chapter we dis- 
cussed the effect of proper heating, lighling and ventila- 
tion, seating, seats and school movements upon time con- 
servation in the schoolroom and upon the Avorking efficiency 
of the pupils. The subject matter of this chapter would 
not be complete without a word or two about the effect 
of the general hcalthfulness of the pupils and the hygienic 
conditions of the schoolroom and school processes upon 
the conservation of time and the working efficiency of the 
pupils. The immediate responsiveness of the mind to 
ravages of sickness and disease is a matter too well known 
to need comment here. It follows as an obvious fact that the 
slightest evidence of unhygienic conditions in the schoolroom 
makes its presence felt immediately in the capacity of the 
pupil for work. Only, therefore, when the pupil is in good 
health and the schoolroom is in prime condition is it possible 
to secure the highest degree of efficiency in the play of edu- 
cative forces. The general health of the pupil can to but 
little extent be regulated by the school. We therefore pass 
it by for the hygienic condition of the schoolroom which the 
teacher can control and which she is expected to regulate and 
control, at least in the essential things pertaining to health. 
Much has been done in the past quarter of a century along 
this line and the underlying principles for promoting the 
health and healthy working conditions in the schoolroom 
are pretty well established now. As usual Germany moved 
out into this field of inquiry and America soon followed. 
Kotelman in Germany and Shaw in America are both well 
recognized authorities in this field. Experience has proved 
and teachers if observing will find that erect postures in sit- 
ting and standing will serve to keep the pupils attentive and 
steadily at work. Attempts to " slide down " in the seats 
and stretch out the legs soon bring about a general relaxa- 
tion in mind and body and invite laziness and indolence. If 



The Schoolroom 145 

tills were llie only harm the habit could be passed by with lit- 
tle comment. But this is the least of the evil. Such a posi- 
tion forces the shoulders forward, presses the chest in and 
prevents full and deep breathing. Besides this it tends to 
produce spinal curvature bringing on oftentimes later in 
life deformities which often last until death. It also en- 
forces improper breathing, short compressed inspirations 
which b}' bringing small quantities of air into the lungs and 
not completely filling them causes the remote parts of the 
lungs to dr}' up, make poor blood, impoverishes the whole 
body and thereby reduces the bodily power of resistance to 
the attack of disease. It also reduces the bodil}^ energies 
required by the pupil for the performance of his daily school- 
room duties. Slothfulncss and sluggishness of body thus 
produced react to produce a like state of mind. Pupils 
should, therefore, at all times be forced to sit straight and 
erect, with heads up, shoulders back and chests out. Con- 
stant drills in deep breathing if made to accompany these 
postures Avill add much to the general good effect. Their 
feet should be flat on the floor and the body back so as to be 
supported by the back of the seat. The pupils should be con- 
stantl}'^ drilled in all of these matters until they become mat- 
ters of habit with them. Also in such schoolroom exercises 
as drawing, writing and desk work these details should be 
insisted upon. Every routine of the schoolroom should be 
done in that way which will produce the least strain upon 
the pupil for the amount of labor demanded. But these 
very practices themselves become a source of fatigue and in 
time will bring on exhaustion. To overcome them a brief 
recess period should be instituted to give change of bodily 
posture and reinvigoration by motion and fresh air. Where 
a recess cannot be taken, a few moments of gymnastics in 
the room with windows open, or any form of rest and relaxa- 
tion with some means of invigoration included will serve to 
bring out a state of rest with a recharge of the storage cells 
of bodily energy for the remaining time of the session. There 
should not only be a stated time for these periods of relaxa- 
tion, but there should be sufficient laxity in the schoolroom 
routine as to allow tke teacher at any time at his own dis- 



146 Education in Theory and Practice 

cretion to break in on the day's routine, when deemed neces- 
sary, to take sufficient time to relieve any apparent strain 
or exhaustion manifest in the children. The time thus lost 
may be easily made up by the increased power for work 
gained thereby. However, of all forms of relaxation and 
recuperation free play in the open air is preferable to any 
form of activity indoors. 

Personal Cleanliness. Because of the close relation be- 
tween matters of personal cleanliness and matters of health 
and ventilation as well as the problems of seating and the 
problem of supervision of the schoolroom a word or two about 
personal cleanliness among pupils will not be amiss here. 
Personal cleanliness is always essential both in the school- 
room and out of it. It contributes much to the personal 
pride and resulting ambition of pupils. It is also a very 
prominent phase of education for daily practice in life. 
However, it is made a matter of secondary consideration 
because experience has shown that it is more or less a delicate 
matter for teachers to take up such matters with pupils, 
but because of the gravity of the situation teachers should 
have no fear in taking up such matters when the situation 
demands. They should be handled discreetly and tactfully 
but handled without delay. General talks are best in the 
beginning followed by personal talks with the pupils and at- 
tempts made to arouse their personal pride; this failing, it 
is imperative that the matter be taken up in consultation 
with parents. If still there is no response the only course 
open then is the school lavatory or wash basin. If the case 
reaches this stage it will probably be one of discipline and 
should be carefully weighed by the teacher before launching 
into it. Cleanliness however, in the schoolroom must be 
had almost at any cost. Beside being unsightly the odor 
arising from the clothes of such pupils is often disgusting 
and even sickening. They also make the problem of ventila- 
tion difficult and complicate the matter of seating for ends 
of better supervision. The relation of dirt to disease is very 
well known. All forms of disease bearing germs and infecting 
bacteria and bacilli breed livel}' and thrive in dirt. From 
this viewpoint cleanliness is a necessity for pupils in the 



The Schoolroom 147 

schoolroom. In all such matters the teacher should lead 
off. His example both in dress and habits in this matter 
can be a potent one. Bodily odors of the home, sick room, 
or kitchen besides being germ laden are offensive and both 
contaminate the air of the schoolroom, and besides complicat- 
ing the problems of ventilation and robbing the pupils of the 
fresh air needed for work, overtax the organs of respiration 
and produce enervation thereby noticeably reducing the work- 
ing coefficient of the school. One of the cliief dangers aris- 
ing from the lack of personal cleanliness is infection from 
contagious diseases. The laws of the health authorities in 
dealing with such matters should be strictly enforced by the 
teacher and in conjunction with the strict enforcement there 
should be liberal cooperation between the school authorities 
and the health department. As has been said above it would 
be well for teachers to acquaint themselves with the general 
symptoms of the more common contagions, especially of 
those of the so-called " children's diseases." Whenever in 
doubt as to sj^mptoms of contagious diseases or even suspi- 
cious of their presence among their pupils strict adherence to 
the spirit of the law will require that these pupils be sent 
home and a medical examination advised. Where cases of 
quarantine have existed the children from these homes ac- 
cording to the best expert medical advice should be excluded 
from school until the full period of gemi incubation has 
passed and there is no longer danger of infection. If ex- 
posures to contagions have accidently occurred it will be safe 
to take the necessary precautions to avoid infection at once. 
In many cases due to the opposition and relation of the 
parents of a child it is difficult for the teacher to do his 
whole duty. But suffice it to say that here as in all such 
cases the general good must be primary and the teacher 
should unflinchingly follow the rules and regulations laid 
down in such matters by the school authorities and the health 
department. The pride and wishes of the few should not 
under any consideration be allowed to endanger the health 
of the school and the community. 

The question of school supervision, the conservation of 
time and energy in it and the maintenance of a high standard 



14<8 Education in Theory and Practice 

of excellence in its working efficiency are very important 
and may contribute much to his success or failure in his 
work. Prowess and ability there mean his ultimate success 
or failure in school work when judged by true standards. 
Much has been written and spoken upon it. It is still a live 
subject. Nor can we hope to say much upon it here. What 
has been said is and can only be suggestive. The teacher 
may take these few hints and supplement them out of his own 
experience. For after all it is out of resourcefulness gained 
through experience that makes a successful teacher. 

REFERENCE READING 

O'Shea's " Social Development of Education." Chap. XIV. 

Arnold's "School and Class Management." Chaps. IV, V, XI, VI, 

Sect. V. 
Colgrove's " The Teacher and the School." 
Baldwin's " School Management and School Methods." Chaps. X, XI, 

XII, XIII, XIV, XV. 
White's " School Management." P. 48, 19. 
See also references to Chapter on Discipline. 



CHAPTER VII 
DISCIPLINE 

In the economy of educational processes the problems of 
supervision, government and discipline are very closely re- 
lated. Because of this relation in treaties on education usu- 
ally the discussion of government and discipline follow 
closely on that of supervision. There are, however, from 
the viewpoint of education some points of difference that 
it is very essential that we note and establish clearly here. 
For confusion in the meaning of these terms in education 
often leads to serious errors in government and in discipline 
that brings about misunderstandings between pupils and 
teachers which sometimes a whole lifetime does not succeed 
in straightening out. Webster sa3's the aim of government 
is " to direct and control the actions or conduct of one, 
either by established laws or by arbitrary will." Discipline 
he says aims " to develop by instruction, and exercise ; to 
bring one under control so as to have him act systematically, 
to train one so as to have him act under orders," There are 
here you see so far as school processes are concerned funda- 
mental differences. Government in its primary sense is in- 
cidental to discipline. It is a means to an end, while dis- 
cipline is an end in itself. Government is constraint upon 
individual actions, while discipline is conducive to freedom 
of individual actions. Government in and for itself exists 
everywhere only for the purpose of discipline. Its aim there- 
fore is purely and simply to control the action and con- 
duct of the governed. Government in the schoolroom aims 
to maintain order and quiet in the school, to enforce respect 
and to act as a check upon rebellious and recalcitrant spirits 
until they can be brought under the influence and control 
of the forces of discipline. 

There will be, then, if these basic differences between gov- 

149 



150 Education in Theory and Practice 

ernment and discipline are fully comprehended an elemental 
difference between the punishments inflicted for the purpose 
of government, and those inflicted for the purpose of dis- 
cipline. They provoke ver^' difl'erent attitudes of response 
on the part of the pupil. The former he accepts as a neces- 
sity under the existing order of things, the other as some- 
thing due in consequence of certain acts of commission and 
omission. Government considers merely the overt act as a 
breach of the school order, while discipline goes behind 
the act and considers the kind and quality of the intent. 
Government is temporary in the check it off'ers but final 
in the acts it considers. Discipline, on the other hand, is 
gradual and continuous growing in strength in its effective- 
ness as a spirit for it is engendered and fostered in the re- 
cipient mind. Thus one can readily see that while there is 
but little place in the modern conception of education and 
educational processes for government, there is infinite room 
in them for discipline. The old education was for the most 
part governmental in nature. The new education being es- 
sentially an education of freedom and individualism is a 
reaction against so much of government in the schoolroom 
in favor of more discipline. At bottom the basis of the 
argument against the mechanization of school routine and 
the enforcing of government from w^ithout in favor of self 
government, that kind of government which is characterized 
as being voluntary and from within, lies in the opposition 
which is fundamental between government and discipline. In 
the present content of the concept government robs the in- 
dividual of freedom of thought and individuality of action, 
makes of the pupil a blind automaton, following without 
question or after-thought the arbitrary rule of those in au- 
thority. Such a one, as he grows into manhood, is but little 
fit for the complex duties of a responsible citizen under 
democratic forms of government and of a member of an 
advanced or enlightened social group. It is discipline and 
not government that makes the higliest form of instruction 
possible, though the contrary opinion attributing such power 
to government is the prevailing one. In effect government 
aims at temporary reform and control, while discipline aims 



Discipline 151 

at the permanent effects necessary in the making of the free 
and independent man. Government aims to produce a reac- 
tion that is temporary ; while discipline aims to produce a 
relaxation whose effects are lasting and for the individual's 
improvement in moral and mental good. Whenever punish- 
ment is temporarily coercive, which at times it is highly es- 
sential that it be, it is a measure of government and not 
one of discipline. As such the punishment will not generally 
go deep enough to do the desired good. It will only reach the 
feeling of the individual when it should reach his thought. 
As long as punishment does not get into the thought life 
of a pupil its reformative as well as its formative effects 
are at low ebb, sometimes practically nil. In such cases 
it is often better if dispensed with entirely, or employed only 
as a means to secure a foothold on the pupil for the applica- 
tion of measures of discipline. Much of the punishment of 
the schoolroom falls upon the cliild as water upon a duck's 
back, simply because it is not rational punishment. For 
the child, unless special efforts are made to show him, there 
is neither understanding as to the reason of the existence 
of the rule, nor explanation as to wherein a breach of the 
rule should be followed by this or that particular kind of pun- 
ishment. Not only is there need for the grounds of punish- 
ment to be made known to the pupil, but there must also be 
seen by him justification of it in his action, if the punish- 
ment is to have any disciplinary value to the pupil at all. 
Punishment is intended to react upon the sphere of thought 
action of the pupil, to affect the form and content of his 
mental life. In order to do this it should get into the midst 
of the elements which determine human action, namely, into 
his interests, emotions and desires. When it does not do 
this there is a ready return to former mental attitudes and 
dispositions and the same forms of punishment must be meted 
out over again. This repetition in time brings about what 
is known as " callousness " in the attitude of the pupil and 
the result is, that by such a method of punishment one soon 
has on his hands a pupil incapable of government or of dis- 
cipline. Misguided parents and teachers hammer at chil- 
dren in whom these false standards and methods of punish- 



152 Education in Theory and Practice 

ment have set up this attitude of sullen indifference 
determined to " conquer " them, when in reality there is 
nothing in the child to be conquered. By such methods not 
only is conquest an absurdity, but it is an actual impossi- 
bility. What is possible, what is necessary and desirable 
is, a mutual understanding between child and parent or be- 
tween pupil and teacher, merely a mutual understanding of 
each other's attitude and motive. Once this is known, it is 
not conquest which is never necessary or desirable but dis- 
cipline which will follow with ease and mutual benefit to 
each. 

An appeal to the feelings, a mere stimulation of the 
emotions to more intense action, which is what arbitrary 
government and irrational punishment are, has two tenden- 
cies. These above all things are to be avoided in the case 
of the young and growing. In the first place they both tend 
to deaden aspiration and ambition by creating loss of respect 
in the subject for himself and a belittled conception of self, 
coupled with a belief that there is something decidedly wrong 
in himself that seems to make him so out of harmony with 
the established order of things. In the second place, if he 
finally emerges from the difficulty and despair into which he 
has been driven, it is either with a morbid conception of his 
fellows and the world at large, or else he has imbibed false 
ideas of the real essence and trend of human action and gov- 
ernment. In either case he is probably lost to all usefulness 
to his fellows immediately and more remotely to society at 
large. Sometimes again the individual mind because of this 
manner of handling it, may react in sullen determination 
not to be restrained and with silence and cold indifference 
forge on in his blind reactionary career with utter disre- 
gard for custom, law and government until by the aid of 
lucky chance he may stumble again back into the true paths 
of government and discipline. There is every evidence in 
experience that an appeal to feeling is but little affective 
except as a means of governing temporarily. Feelings, psy- 
chologically considered, are evanescent and the moment the 
stimulus that aroused them is lost or removed, the mental 
equilibrium returns to its old state of action or inaction un- 



Discipline 153 

less there is something in its nature or method of action to 
get within the sphere of mental action and produce thought 
activity — reflection and meditation upon the whole matter, 
the whys and wherefors of it. Plow readily even parental 
control loses hold and how quickly the force of parental gov- 
ernment dissipates when within the home the recipient of 
the punishment is without the immediate range of parental 
supervision, goes only too clearly to show how little enduring 
effectiveness is inherent in government in and of itself, and 
how long youth can be subject to government that is not 
disciplinary Avith its being of little or no practical effect upon 
him, even when there is every evidence that there is the best 
of intent toward him on the part of the governing and where 
also there is a good attitude toward the governing on the part 
of the governed. The evident cause of all of this is that 
the motive for individual action has not been developed by 
those in authority in the child and in the pupil. That is to 
say, such punishments have been merely restrictive of in- 
dividual action, governmental in nature, while the best re- 
sults in attitude and motive would have followed such punish- 
ments had they been more directive of this tendency to in- 
dividual action, that is, if they had been disciplinary in 
nature. In the same way and for the same reason incentives, 
however strong they may otherwise be, when applied to in- 
dividuals to bring forth certain lines of conduct or beget 
certain kinds of action, fail. Not having gotten into the 
thought life of the individual, because they have been prin- 
cipally restricted in his affective life, their efforts die as soon 
as tlie state of feeling they aroused in consciousness or ac- 
companied into consciousness passes awa}'. 

The great problem of the schoolroom is the " bad " boy, 
the " unruly " boy. And yet if properly as well as carefully 
handled he will be found not to offer such formidable resist- 
ance to the forces of government and discipline. The first 
step in the process of control and discipline is to learn what, 
if any, are the motives for his attitude and action. Youth, 
we all know, is an experimental age. The boy and the girl 
find within themselves daily newly awakened ideas, newly 
created desires and newly manifested powers. All of these 



154 Education in Theory and Practice 

constantly and irrepressibly seek realization, satisfaction and 
expression. Some of them, of course, are of themselves 
worthy and should be allowed continuation, others of them, 
however, will need some slight degree of modification or per- 
haps even redirection into new channels before they will be- 
come so in the life and actions of the child and pupil. Often- 
times what we see in the schoolroom is merely the child testing 
his newly found ideas, following his desires to their natural 
satisfaction or his powers to their natural expression. He 
is merely seeing what he can do with you or with the school 
and its routine. This the teacher must decide. In such 
a case proper government will restrict him to what consistent 
with the rules and regulations of the school, he may be allowed 
to do, while discipline will win him over to the mental atti- 
tude, by punishment, if necessary, to do in all of this ir- 
repressible new mental life what he is allowed to do in the 
way prescribed and to restrain the rest of his soul life for 
expression elsewhere and under different conditions. The 
road to such a one's good will is manifestly not tlirough 
curbing and arbitrary restraint as through intelligent and 
sympathetic redirection. The desires may be controlled 
and redirected to objects or processes in the schoolroom, 
while his powers may be developed by being applied to the 
performance of the various schoolroom functions. Strive 
to recall his desire from the things foreign and perhaps an- 
tagonistic to the processes of the school and concentrate 
them on the things in harmony with the schoolroom proc- 
esses. Do this in the first place by putting in the school- 
room the means of satisfying as many of his natural desires 
as are possible, as well as, as many objects for expression 
of his powers as are possible. This done, all impulses away 
from the school such as result in absence, truancy and tardi- 
ness may be easily controlled. This done, whenever punish- 
ment is found to be necessary, the child can be readily 
brought into a state of mind where he will recognize the ne- 
cessity or justification of the punishment to be inflicted. In 
such a school discipline will place teacher and pupil on bet- 
ter terms. A different conception of the teacher and of all 
school methods will take place. The schoolroom will have a 



Discipline 155 

new meaning. Instead of being a place where all forms of 
activity are inhibited or prohibited, it will be a place where 
desire for activity will find myriads of new ways of expres- 
sion and of the realization of the ideals of child life. 
Thoughts of it will be filled with joy, pleasant memories and 
happy anticipations. Here the relation between pupil and 
teacher takes on more nearly the form of intercourse between 
individuals in daily life. The teacher instead of being an 
unwelcome task master and ruler, becomes an acquaintance, 
a friend, a desired companion. From this point on the 
teacher easily has the reins of control entirely in his hand. 
He may discipline by personal power and magnetism or by 
punishment. But if success is to come out of all of this 
the teacher must be of model conduct himself and of high 
moral stamina. Not only this, but the best that is in him 
must be alwa3'S on the surface. In other words discipline 
should mould by its influence those who fall under its sway. 
The teacher should not only have high standards of personal 
conduct but these must show themselves in the reason and 
justification of his government and discipline, if the work 
of the school is to run smoothly and a high degree of work- 
ing efficiency is to be maintained. His should be a life of 
stability and constancy in word and deed. His conduct 
should be at all times an arbitrary and fixed constant, wherein 
the pupil may have a known quantity to study, emulate and 
strive to attain in his own life. When there is a fixed stand- 
ard of conduct, approximation toward it may well receive 
approval and retrogression from it disapproval on the part 
of the teacher. All pupils desire to please, and most espe- 
cially do they desire to please their teacher. That much in 
them is human. Desire for approbation is in fact common 
to all men. It is a basic principle in regulating social con- 
duct to-day. But when and where there is no consistency 
in the conduct which is to serve as a model, when there is a 
demand for a constant readjusting and reshaping of methods 
of behavior on the part of the pupil, it soon causes confusion 
in standards and disappointment leading in time to the ulti- 
mate conclusion that after all conformity to any such in- 
constant and inconsistent model of conduct is impossible of 



156 Education in Theory and Practice 

attainment. Whereupon the child soon ceases his attempts 
to please and win approval and thereafter the means and 
end of discipline are lost upon him. 

The N attire of Discipline. Many teachers find it impos- 
sible to govern, and hence to discipline, because they are too 
far off from the pupil. They do not know them. They have 
too little in common with the thought realm of their pupils 
to get next to them. But this is the very thing that is es- 
sential to successful discipline. A common ground must 
exist between pupil and teacher whereon they can " get to- 
gether." This, it is always well for a teacher to cultivate. 
No opportunity however simple or insignificant should be 
lost which may form a basis for the beginning of such un- 
derstanding and resultingly the institution of discipline. 
Love of approbation of our fellows is one of the greatest 
social and socializing forces known to man. In the hands 
of a resourceful teacher it can be of inestimable value as a 
means of discipline. There are some natures in the school- 
room whom only strong forms of approbation or disappro- 
bation will reach. For these cases the teacher must prepare 
himself through a long gradual process of study and analysis 
of the pupil. The best means to this end is a conversant 
knowledge of the emotions and wishes of the pupil. To be 
properly and fairly dealt with the pupil must be thoroughly 
understood. The next step to understanding a pupil is to 
have the disposition to respect carefully all of his wishes 
and where possible to satisf}^ those of his desires that are 
consistent with good order and work in the schoolroom. Pro- 
hibitions to childish requests and expressed desires should 
be the rarity instead of the commonplace. All childish 
tendencies, wishes and desires if necessary to be denied can 
be best handled if the reason for the refusal be freely, fully 
and candidly given. It is best always to let the pupils know 
you understand both what they wish and why they wish it, 
and assure them that 3'ou would, if it were possible or best, 
be glad to see them attain their desire. Candor in such 
matters is always appreciated. There may, of course, at 
any time in administration of such matters arise justifiable 
reasons for witliholding this explanation, or even peremp- 



Discipline 157 

torilj refusing it. This much the situation and the teacher 
must determine. In all of this true standards as has been 
said should be established, punishment meted out accordingly, 
government instituted and discipline introduced on this 
basis. 

Because of the need of simplicity in all things for the child 
mind, all systems of discipline intended should be reduced 
to their simplest form. As the child mind grows in power 
of thought and comprehension these systems may become 
more extended. But under all conditions and for all classes 
the simpler they are the better. Again methods of dis- 
cipline should neither be mechanical nor " ironclad." Dis- 
cipline as has been said appeals to the mind and seeks the 
consent of the mind ; it is evident then from this that no 
mechanism in discipline can be effective. Individual cases 
must be handled as such. What the child needs in matters 
of discipline is to learn the natural relation he bears to his 
physical environment and to the state and society. Those 
of the school should be in harmony with all of these. Every 
act of the teacher must show evidence of justification in 
this general system if it is to carry with it weight with 
even moderate hope of success in application and then every 
move that the teacher makes of disciplinary nature should 
be intelligently directed toward the accomplishment of the 
purpose of the general scheme of his discipline. To do this 
will require on his part at all times a judicious exercise of 
much patience, gentleness and care. He who would be a 
good disciplinarian must not allow himself to be rash. Pa- 
tience is a prime requisite in the attainment of discipline in 
the schoolroom. The new pupil is oftentimes a mystery to 
the teacher both in the matter of physical habits and mental 
moods and consequently in the kind of treatment to which 
he will best respond. This, the teacher can learn only after 
a more or less long period of study and observation in all 
of the various relations of the schoolroom routine. With the 
teacher and the pupil each is an experiment with the other, 
who must be carefully tried out. The teacher to discover 
what are the best and most available means of reaching the 
pupil and successfully disciplining him and preparing him 



158 Education in Theory and Practice 

for his experiences in life ; the pupil to find what the teacher 
expects of him and how best he may do what is expected, or 
in some few cases how he may resist or avoid doing what is 
expected of him. Thus we see that to every act of the 
teacher there is a full reaction. Now teachers often notice 
only the action leaving the reaction to take care of itself. 
In which case the reaction sometimes returns to overwhelm 
the teacher and may prove his entire undoing. In matters 
of discipline it often takes a veritable genius and even at 
that some classes of pupils will tax a teacher's powers to the 
utmost. To be successful in both action and reaction the 
resources of the disciplinarian must flow from a perennial 
fountain, namely, a wide-awake sympathetic mind. School- 
room discipline will brook no repetition of methods in its 
system of application, the spring must bring forth ever 
fresh and living methods. T^he very fact that punishments 
or methods of discipline can be anticipated robs them of their 
force. Here truly variety will be the spice of life. 

Character and Discipline. Another thing that must be 
considered in administering discipline is the kind of character 
with which one is dealing or is to deal. From this viewpoint 
of discipline, the characters met are either stable or unstable. 
Character may have become stable either from earlier train- 
ing, or age, or both. Characters that are stable present 
much the more difficult problem in cases of discipline. Yet 
when understood the stable charactered pupil is much more 
susceptible to discipline than the unstable charactered. You 
can know him. There is a constancy and consistency in his 
actions and reactions that may be expected at all times in 
the application of disciplinary methods to him. Wliile with 
the pupil of unstable character there is never anything 
definite to be expected in his reactions, to-day it may be in 
one way and to-morrow in another. But the most serious 
side of the problem with the unstable character is that he 
is never even constant and consistent in the instability. Even 
his instability cannot be depended on to be lasting. To-day 
you get him just so far in discipline and begin to hope that 
you are accomplishing something and to-morrow when your 
hopes are highest and you begin to feel assured of results, 



Discipline 159 

the relaxation comes, all that was gained is lost and you must 
begin all over again with him. All of this is different with 
the stable in character. Whenever you do get the desired 
reactions they are lasting and you can always notice progress 
and have the satisfaction of knowing with v/hat degrees of 
success 3^our efforts are attended. 

Conditions Incidental to Discipline. Looking at disci- 
pline from another viewpoint it is evident that it must change 
with the age, home training and environment of the pupils. 
Disciplinary methods that are successful at one time will 
utterly fail if applied at another time to the same pupil. 
Pupils of different classes and ages require different methods 
to reach them, while their locality, home surroundings 
and social station, etc. will also make a difference in the 
kinds of methods that will bring about effective results. For 
that reason the teacher in a city who met with great success 
as a disciplinarian in a cit}^ school may fail completely in a 
country school and in a mining or oil country ; he may suc- 
ceed with the pupils of one social class or home surrounding 
and training and fail with those of another. Too, funda- 
mental differences in racial temperaments come in for con- 
sideration in discipline and disciplinary methods. The Ital- 
ian, the German, the Russian, the Jew, etc., all will come in 
for consideration peculiar to their nationality and general 
national habits and traits traceable to their nervous structure 
and mental attitude. This point is worthy of consideration 
in the schools in the foreign and congested sections of our 
large cities. 

The health of pupils, too, is a very essential consideration 
in administering discipline. In sickness and disease more so 
than at any other time patience and gentleness are required 
as well as attention to the nature of the method employed. 
The nervous tension of children is very different in health 
from that in disease. In general the reaction to disciplinary 
stimuli in sickness is greater than in health and the states 
produced thereby are more lasting. The feeling aroused dur- 
ing the one is more intense than that aroused during the other 
and the time of their endurance is longer. Because of this 
high tension ners'ously the possiblity of striking the wrong 



160 Education in Theory and Practice 

cord is greater as is the resulting attitude induced. The 
thought activity is more intense and the emotion, desires and 
wishes more fickle. That there is need here of care and pa- 
tience as well as kindliness and gentleness even more than at 
any other time goes without sa3'ing. It follows, therefore, 
that mistakes at such times in matters of discipline will be more 
costly than at any other time. The remedying and removal 
of their effects is also more difficult. Many a teacher has lost 
complete disciplinary and resultingly complete governmental 
control of a pupil during some period of illness or physical 
derangement, which they have never succeeded in regaining. 
The kind of treatment needed during the period because of 
the new kind of reactions was not forthcoming because the 
methods necessary' to produce them were not applied. Very 
often, too, under like conditions the effects produced in a 
pupil are lasting and the individual persists in the new atti- 
tude, new reactions being heaped upon the old until all hope 
of again returning to the old relation is lost and we have a 
new example of the bad or unruly pupil. 

The Aim of Discipline. From an educational viewpoint 
the purpose of government is to make possible discipline. In 
general discipline aims to form character, — here student 
character. In the first place it should place the student in 
the proper frame of mind to receive knowledge. This knowl- 
edge should be presented in such a way as to create an inter- 
est in the knowledge either for a near or remote end, that 
should have been conceived vividly and should have awakened 
an intense desire in the pupil for its attainment. In cases 
where the ends in life for which this knowledge is desired are 
more or less remote the intermediate means by which the more 
distant end is reached must change from time to time to keep 
up interest. Here lies the difficulty of the task. But if it is 
successfully done, discipline will be maintained throughout all 
of the mental and physical changes in life incident to growth 
and development. As this goes on the demand for the open 
application of discipline to the subject will steadily grow less. 
Finally the great end of education will be established. The 
pupil will have become a well developed character with good 
powers of self direction along lines where there are well- 



Discipline 161 

formed desires. At the same time understanding the nature 
of processes in the activities of life and the tendencies of the 
various means as well as their efficiency for attaining results, 
he will be able to develop any new desire and judge of its value 
in the general system of desires. At this point he will have 
attained the height at which school processes and school dis- 
cipline aim and may be safely trusted in the world to push 
out along any line of endeavor that may have appealed to 
him, competent to direct his action and restrain his desires 
within the range of the best judgments of the conservative 
members of the state and of society. The aim of the dis- 
ciplinary processes of the schoolroom and of the school is 
successfully at end. 

Discipline in Practice. Apart from this theory of disci- 
pline and government in the schoolroom there is a practical 
side which must be carefully considered and used under the 
guiding theory of the principle, if the school routine itself is 
to be successful and the primary ends for which it exists are 
to be conserved. Comparatively speaking government aims 
to maintain order in a schoolroom, discipline to bring about 
successful work. They are mutually effective and reactive. 
Group action in school routine has its advantages as well as 
its disadvantages, though the latter are necessary in our sys- 
tem of education. The chief demand of advanced civilization 
and democratic governmental institutions is self-assertiveness 
and individualism. Both of these must of necessity suffer in 
mass education. For the welfare and progress of the class 
as a whole must be made superior to that of the individual. 
The result is that discipline will tend to inhibit those individ- 
ualistic impulses, and to subordinate the egoistic activities to 
the preservation of conditions favorable to the needed concen- 
tration of attention by the class in its entirety which endan- 
gers one of the chief mental attitudes which the discipline of 
the school is supposed to foster. However, this is only one 
of the draw-backs of group life and aggregate action. It is 
the basic principle of civilized society and must be accepted as 
necessar}' in the school that the best attempt be made to fos- 
ter individualism which these more imperative demands on 
group life will permit. Group education is at its best only 



162 Education in Theory and Ptactice 

when it is acquired through the maintenance of the highest 
degree of working efficiency and the greatest possible conser- 
vation of time and energy. These are presumed to be at- 
tained through discipline and government in the school. 
Favorable working conditions to these ends must be preserved 
at all times. This is of the highest import in large classes, 
where daily accumulated waste of time may seriously hamper 
the work of the class room. 

The Opening Day. The time to begin government and 
discipline in the schoolroom is on the first day of school and 
at the very opening. This is the psychological moment in 
the process of discipline. At this time everything is strategic 
and favors good discipline. The teacher is fresh and vigor- 
ous, full of plans and hopes and ready to tackle any problem 
of school discipline that may arise. On the other hand the 
pupils are there full of good intentions and good resolves, all 
determined to behave, study and do well in their schoolwork. 
Besides this the teacher is probably new to them and the work 
also, each carrying with it all of the native attraction attend- 
ant upon that which is novel. For a good measure of success 
it is only necessary that the teacher make full capital out of 
these natural conditions favorable to good government from 
the beginning. From the very first the teacher should insist 
upon all work being carried out in detail and all of the routine 
work of opening should be gotten out of the Avay as speedily 
as possible and the whole school started out upon the regular 
routine of the year's work. The attitude of the pupil is one 
of high tension and very unstable equilibrium, but it tends 
easily to become stable, care must be exercised only to the 
end that it settle in the right direction. If the work of clas- 
sifying and grading and other preliminary work is extended 
over too much time and the pupils allowed to play and waste 
the school time, the equilibrium will settle in that direction 
and may remain there the balance of the school year, or if 
changed at all for tlie better it will only be done by the great- 
est labor and effort on the part of the teacher, and only then 
by gaining the ill-will or loss of respect of some of the pupils, 
or perhaps in both. Rigorous work should be the order from 
the moment of opening. The teacher should, on previous 



Discipline 163 

occasions, have acquainted himself with all of the routine 
necessary and should determine his method of conducting his 
preliminary exercises beforehand, having everything previ- 
ously in readiness for them. From the first the teacher 
should show that he has anticipated and is prepared for 
every possible demand and at all times is complete master of 
the situation and of himself. Any evidence of unprepared- 
ness or inability to meet any emergency incident to the open- 
ing of school or thereafter is likely to have serious effects 
upon the relation of the teacher with his pupils and result- 
ingly of his governmental and disciplinary powers. There 
should be no confusion in issuing orders, nor should there 
be too frequent need of retracting orders when once given, 
because they are wrong or incapable of successful accomplish- 
ment as physically impossible or impracticable. All of this 
should as far as possible be determined before the order is 
issued. He should understand the arrangement of the room 
and the control of its equipment and appurtenances and those 
of the building and grounds. Especially should he have 
mastered the methods of operating the system of heating 
and ventilation, both for reasons of health as well as for those 
of discipline. It is always unfortunate for a teacher ncAV or 
old to be forced in the presence of the school to admit in- 
ability to perform any given act and be compelled to request 
the help of a pupil, send for the janitor or call in the aid of 
the principal, the school commissioner or one of the directors. 
This applies chiefly to those who would be expected naturally 
to possess the physical strength to do these things. In the 
case of women teachers, however, the cautions necessary for 
one who knows well the limits of her strength is always bet- 
ter followed. For even with them evidences of failure have 
their effects in matters of discipline even though they be less 
than in the case of men. 

Whatever of mechanical routine it Is expected to employ 
in school processes such as movements about the room, to 
and from the board and recitation seats, collecting and dis- 
tributing wraps, and marching to and from the room, it is 
better to have them carefully thought out and instituted 
from the start. Once instituted they should be changed as 



164) Education in Theory and Practice 

little as possible, except where there is evident some glaring 
defect in them. In this case it will be justifiable to change 
them immediately. Under ordinary circumstances it will 
be found to be best to let plans once promulgated even 
though not entirely satisfactory run for a reasonable length 
of time or until a convenient opportunity offers itself for 
instituting a change in the order that the teacher may not put 
himself in a position of not knowing what is best or of not 
understanding himself, or, what is immeasurably worse, of 
being unstable in his views and methods. 

As for the work of the first day outside of the duty of 
enrolling and classifying, which should be done as rapidly 
as due regard for accuracy will permit, the regular work of 
the school da}^ when the school is fully under way should 
be done from the first. Here too, full possession of all in- 
formation necessary to the proper and complete performance 
of this duty will be found to give the best results from the 
viewpoint of work and discipline. Ease and rapidity of 
work will be secured from the outset if the teacher is also 
advised as to the relation of the work required in the room 
whether there be several or only one grade in the room and the 
relation of this work to the grade or grades immediately be- 
low it and those immediately above it. The basis of passing 
pupils and if possible the record of the pupils in the pre- 
ceding year's work would greatly aid in this work. Where 
these are impossible the local course of study or the general 
county or state course of study should be available and 
should be used as a basis of outlining the work and classi- 
fying the various pupils. Apart from this every teacher 
would find it of great help to acquaint himself with graded 
courses of study for various states and be able to model 
for himself a complete course, not only through the grade 
school, but through the high school as well. This will place 
the individual teacher in his work upon an independent basis 
that will give him advantages in emergencies or difficulties 
hardly to be appreciated by the novice and unprepared. 
The attendance of teachers should be prompt at all times, and 
constant. Nothing has the demoralizing effects upon a 
school as do habits of tardiness or inconstancy in attend-i 



Discipline 165 

ance upon the part of the teacher. Fortunately most oi 
these things are controlled financially by the school com- 
missioners and directors, but in country districts where 
supervision is only occasional the habit is often formed of 
being late and runs often for a considerable time doing its 
demoralizing work before it becomes known and is stopped. 
The teacher should endeavor to precede the children to the 
school and have everything in readiness for their reception 
when they arrive. In city schools and sometimes elsewhere 
it is impossible for the pupils to assemble in the assembly 
room and later pass to the school rooms. Where possible 
this is best. When the weather permits the pupils should 
be left out to pla}' until the proper time for them to as- 
semble, at which time they should assemble according to 
prescribed routine and in order. The teacher should by all 
means be in his position and receive the pupils. Greet them 
pleasantly but do not assume any manners with them that 
you do not intend always to maintain. Friendly but re- 
spectful regard is always best. Nothing that will not be 
tolerated later in the line of conduct or attitude should be 
tolerated the first day and very little before or after school, 
that will not be tolerated during school. Everything in the 
school should have an air of business and work from the 
start. An understanding that is to be maintained through- 
out is to be had at once upon the pupil filing into the school- 
room. 

The Attitude of Outsiders in Discipline. In effectively ap- 
plying these external or mechanical methods there are cer- 
tain favorable conditions which may at times prove to be 
almost necessary. Chief of these is that there must be 
practical working relations existing between the teacher 
and those charged by law or by nature with the responsibility 
of the proper rearing, training and education of the pupils. 
I mean here the parents or guardian of the children on the 
one side and the school commissioners, school board, prin- 
cipal and superintendent, both county and city, on the 
other. Between these, for the sake of good work, genial 
relations are ever a prime requisite. Little as these may 
think, especially the parents, they can ruin the fitness of 



166 Education in Theory and Practice 

their children for the schoolroom and instill into them lessons 
of disrespect for law and order and those charged with the 
responsibility of administering it that may sometimes follow 
them throughout life, and in some cases bring them behind 
the prison walls or even down to the hangman's noose. 
Certain it is that the respect and confidence of the pupil for 
the teacher are readily destroyed by an attitude discounte- 
nancing or discrediting the acts of teachers before children. 
To begin with there should under all circumstances always be 
perfect confidence and good Avill existing between parents 
and teachers. But since both are human and filled each with 
his share of human weakness, and imperfections, this is 
ostensibly impossible at all times. This fact, however, may 
be reduced to a minimum of evil effects, if both teacher and 
parents will endeaver to make consideration for the other. 
Parents should never by word or manner let the child know 
that there is the least lack of confidence or ill-will existing 
between them and the teacher. Nor should the teacher 
criticize the parents before the pupil or pupils. The child 
is quick to detect any evidence of lack of friendly relations 
or lack of confidence and equally quick to take advantage of 
it for personal ends. Should the existence of bad feeling 
or a feeling of incompetence become known to the pupils, 
both the teacher, his power of government and discipline will 
be seriously disabled thereby, if not entirel}^ broken down, 
and the amount and quality of instruction under such con- 
ditions fall to a minimum. 

Teachers should be appointed purely for fitness and com- 
petency. The community should know that no other mo- 
tive existed in the appointment. They should also know 
that there is no method, that they can employ that will en- 
able them to retain or obtain their friends or relations as 
teachers. Much discontent and open effort to break down 
tlie power and influence a teacher both in the community and 
schoolroom is engendered and willfully nourished with the 
hope that a friend or relative may profit by the removal of 
the teacher. If perfect candor and honesty is employed 
in obtaining a teacher and he is elected and retained on a 
basis of merit much of the evils of lack of cooperation on the 



Discipline 167 

part of the parents and community will disappear of their 
own accord. This situation is bad enough, but becomes 
worse when the knowledge that other forces than competency 
and fitness may be used to make vacant and fill the positions 
of teachers is employed by some, either to bully or coerce 
or wreak vengeance upon a teacher for private or personal 
reasons, which are often low and degrading to say nothing 
of the selfishness that generally is in them. When this state 
of things arises the school is better abolished if the condi- 
tion is not removed. It is a source of regret to admit that 
often such situations as these do arise and the innocent as 
well as the guilty suffer together, while the children whose 
ideas and standards are not fully foraied get perverted 
ideas that make of them unfit citizens and unfit members of 
society. Let it be said, however, in this same connection 
that no teacher should at any time allow such a state of 
things to cause him to desert his high standard of living and 
acting, nor in any way to yield to any attempted pressure 
that is either belittling or compromising. Fortunately in 
such matters things have improved considerably and are 
continuing to improve and the teachers are mostly given 
hearty cooperation by the superintendent, boards, and com- 
missioners of education. Too, the dissemination of litera- 
ture upon the relation of the teacher to those in authority 
over him has caused a more perfect understanding of the 
rights and privileges of each and the bad effects resulting 
from an infringement of either upon the rights of the other. 
In some cases however the local rights of school boards and 
superintendents are overestimated and then the wrong kind 
of interference follows. The right to employ teachers, to 
prescribe courses of study and instruction and exercise su- 
pervisory authority over schools does not mean that those 
so charged with responsibility are either to so circumscribe 
or hamper teachers that their freedom of action is impaired 
or their power of instruction and administering government 
and proper discipline curtailed. The teaching powers and 
functions as well as those of government and discipline must 
of necessity belong to the teacher. To deprive him of them 
or interfere with him in exercising them is to do untold harm 



168 Education in Theory and Practice 

to the processes of the school. Prohibitive rules and re- 
strictive or regulative advice should only be in a general 
manner and according to principles well known and well es- 
tablished. The details of these in the practical working of 
the schoolroom routine, experience has taught, are infinitely 
better if left with the teacher. Of course, supervision is 
for the purpose of preventing and overcoming flagrant 
abuses or degrading and damaging practices, and where 
found in use they should be corrected unhesitatingly, keep- 
ing in mind always the proper place and time for such things. 
It is a human error common to many not to know how to 
use vested authority. In school matters this fault is not 
absent from men. But whenever those in authority correct 
a teacher before his class, or show by any outward sign that 
there is fault or dissatisfaction found with a teacher's work 
or methods, trouble has been started that may cause untold 
difficulties for the teacher in government and discipline, that 
may eventually drive him from the community and the pro- 
fession and may ruin the school for years to come. 

Where the views of those in authority as to methods dif- 
fer, or where there is evidence of ignorance of, or disregard 
for, the commonest principles of teaching and discipline the 
best results are known to follow always where the facts are 
presented to the teacher in private, kindly, clearly and thor- 
ouglily and where possible with references to current litera- 
ture on the subject. Teachers are responsible moral agents 
and above all responsible physical agents, and are controlled 
chiefly in the proposition of their school work through ma- 
terial sources. Common justice and equity demands there- 
fore that those charged with responsibilities be given the 
right of freedom of action and the right to follow their own 
judgments, at least in the employment of details in school- 
room operations. Methods that one can successfull}' use 
to secure results may not bring them when used by another. 
Now since what the American system demands is results, 
since every week, every month, every term, the teacher must 
be able to show in results what has been attained, would it 
not be fair to allow him at least freedom of individual action 
in his work.'' Give him this, give him some right to exercise 



Discipline 169 

undisturbed and unrestricted his individuality and inventive 
genius without fear of molestation and interference and 
the constant fear of public humiliation and perhaps the loss 
of his job. 

Given these rights and privileges and freedom of action 
and supported in the rightful and conscientious pursuit of 
his work by those in authority the path to successful govern- 
ment, discipline and consequent instruction is comparatively 
easy. To these, however, the teacher must add, to further 
promote his success those personal virtues which we enumer- 
ated above under the head of the psychic forces of govern- 
ment and discipline. These are scholarship, a high sense of 
duty and right, courage and determination, tact, indefa- 
tigableness, good nature, good manners and an air of au- 
thority and business both in manner and voice coupled with 
an evident desire to be fair and just to all. Armed with 
these virtues in the schoolroom and supported by the good 
will and authority of those without the schoolroom the 
teacher is pretty well assured of success in almost any school 
and in almost any community. Goverment and discipline 
will be natural and easy, instruction will fall upon kindly 
ears and the whole being of the child can drink in of his 
surroundings as the teacher lights up the whole with his 
personality, his enthusiasm and his love for both his pupils 
and his work. Here it will follow as a natural consequence 
that rules will be few and fully understood and accepted as 
necessary. Only such rules will be made as will not tend 
to confusion and consequent misunderstanding, changes in 
them will seldom occur and when they do become necessary 
they will be anticipated, made known and justified to the 
pupil. As a result there will be a disposition for full and 
free obedience among the pupils. The pupils will know 
that obedience will be expected and rigidly demanded, and 
that the punishment in case of disobedience will be natural, 
fitted to the degree of transgression and administered kindly 
and with tenderness. The teacher will understand child 
nature and the pupil more of the nature of the matured. 
For each in every case there will be due consideration. In- 
struction and the imparting of knowledge will be easy and 



170 Education in Theory and Practice 

the intellect of the child will grow apace until we have a 
developed being capable of self direction in the affairs of life 
and of moral conduct toward his fellows, asserting itself 
along the lines of his chosen field of endeavor. 

REFERENCE READING 

Bagley's "The Educative Process." Chap. XIII. 

Bolton's "Principles of Education." Chap. XXVIII, 

Compayre's " Psychology Applied to Education." Chap. XIV. 

O'Shea's " Social Development and Education." Chap. XV. 

Arnold's " School and Class Management." Chaps. IV, V, VI, VII. 

Perry's " Management of a City School." Chap. IX. 

Dinsmore's "Teaching a District School." Chap. X. 

Gillette's "Vocational Education." Chap. VIII. 

Collar & Crook's " School Management and Method of Instruction." 

Chap. IV. 
Pechard's " School Supervision." Chap. XV. 
Fitch's " Lectures on Teaching." Chap. IV. 
DeGarmo's " Principles of Secondary Education." Vol, I, Chap. 

Ill (2). 
See also references to Chapter on Punishments. 



CHAPTER VIII 

PUNISHMENTS IN THE SCHOOL 

The Nature and Justification of Punishments. No form 
of school routine and school method has received as much 
study and consideration, nothing connected with school life 
has been so written upon and discussed as the questions of 
the method, demand and justification of various forms of 
punishments for the school. This is a " progressive age." 
In everything there is a reaction against old methods and 
old institutions, both social, civil, ecclesiastical and educa- 
tional. The reaction as to methods of punishments both in 
the state, the home and the school seems to be here to stay. 
This age is an age of encouragement of activity, better, of 
course, if directed, but desired even when uncontrolled or un- 
directed by external forces. The wave of reaction tended 
to carry, and appears in some cases to have carried us almost 
to the other extreme. But sober judgment and wise discre- 
tion have brought us back to a more immediate middle 
ground. Punishment, if we are to accept the inherited prac- 
tices of the ages as sufficient reason, are a necessity in all 
forms of group life and the control of group activity. In 
all forms of social life the will and best good of the majority 
whether conceived as such consciously or instinctively are 
vouchsafed for by some form of punitive systems. So well 
established has been the proof that punitive systems are 
necessary for community life and government that the de- 
mand is everywhere acknowledged and practiced by all. The 
very fundaments of biological principle rest upon a pleasure- 
pain basis, that is a readjustment of habits of action to seek 
and maintain states of pleasure and avoid and overcome those 
of pain. So that the question involved to-day in educa- 
tional processes is not so much as to the efficiency or need 
of punishment, but rather as to the need or efficiency of cer- 

171 



172 Education in Theory and Practice 

tain kinds of punishments. No theorists, however idealistic 
they may be in their conception of education and the proc- 
esses of education have ever presumed to advocate the 
abandonment of all forms of punishments in the schoolroom. 
With primitive man when might was right and little was 
known of the efficacy as well as benevolence of mental pun- 
ishment all forms of punishments were chiefly physical. 
With these same types of men both then and now the life 
they lived is chiefly a physical life. Life was a hard and 
severe struggle and breaches of social conduct fraught mostly 
with much inconvenience to society. Consequently these 
breaches of conduct were restrained by severe physical pun- 
ishments. During medieval times the struggle for existence 
was severe and the means of governing because the means of 
communication and movements were slow, were poor. String- 
ent measures were necessary to control rebellious and rest- 
less spirits and all breaches of conduct were severely and 
summarily dealt with. It is this relic of medieval govern- 
ment as found both in the home, the state and the school 
that we have inherited against which we are reacting to-day 
in an endeavor to throw it off. The danger lies in going too 
far. Where shall we stop.'^ While the reaction all along 
the line in home, state and school is toward less physical 
punishment and more of an appeal to the spiritual side of 
man and the application of mental punishments it would, 
from the very nature of the subject to be treated in the case, 
be unwise to jump too hastily to the other extreme. Despite 
the agitation to the contrary both in general and in special 
cases the use of physical punishments has been found to be 
warranted in some cases. Mental punishments since first 
agitated and practiced have never met with serious opposi- 
tion. To-day the most serious attitude toward them is seen 
in the desire to control and prescribe the manner, time and 
cause of them as based upon a study of the nature of the in- 
dividual upon whom they are to be inflicted. Tliis is in 
general now the attitude toward physical punishments. 

School Funishvwnts. We are concerned in our discussion 
here only with the matter of punishment as employed in and 
applicable to the school. Here is where the chief conflicts 



Punishments 173 

over the questions of the nature, kind, manner and occasion 
of the various forms of punishments both physical and mental 
rage. The home uses both kinds of punishments without 
arousing serious opposition or discussion except perhaps 
in a few isolated and rare cases. The state does the same 
and there is likewise almost total acquiescence on the part 
of the citizenship in it. Society does too and here too re- 
sistence or objection is never strongly evident. But when 
the school attempts such there is no end to the discussion, 
agitation and opposition which it occasions. Is not the 
teacher in loco parentis? Does the school not undertake 
with and for the child some of the specific duties of the state, 
society and the home.^ The answer in each case is in the 
affirmative. But even in the face of this, opposition to the 
school adopting the various means of punishment continues 
and the agitation about it and discussion of it goes on anon. 
In all of this there are at least two fundamental reasons 
for this attitude toward the administering of the various 
forms of punishment on the part of the school. The first 
one of these is that there is a basic relation existing between 
the child and the home and home government that is deeper 
and more lasting both in its nature and the duties and re- 
sponsibilities which it bears, and though in a sense the school 
is in place of the home and the teacher in the place of the 
parent he can never think nor feel toward and for the cliild 
as the parent would and does do, nor can the school assume 
the basic responsibilities which the home must and does as- 
sume. These elements of difference in relation and respon- 
sibility will always be a source of inconvenience and hin- 
drance to the school and the teacher in cai-rying on their 
delegated functions and will always tend to provoke criti- 
cism against them to more or less extent in these matters, 
even though at bottom there be little or nothing wrong with 
what they advocate and do. The other source of this at- 
titude towards the administration of punishment on the 
part of the school is probably due to the lack of method 
and moderation in the administration of it and the absence 
oftentimes of the controlling element of love and sympathy. 
Along with these goes the further consideration that not 



174 Education in Theory and Practice 

only are these oftentimes wanting in the school while they 
are almost always present in the home, but even where pres- 
ent in the school they cannot be formally aroused in the 
teacher to the extent and in the manner in which they exist 
by nature in the parent, a fact for which the world in the 
formation and expression of its judgments is willing and 
wont to make such elaborate allowance for the shortcomings 
of the one which are entirely wanting in consideration of 
the failures and shortcomings of the other. In some cases 
it must be admitted that the school has at times because 
unprompted in its methods and feelings by the deeper emo- 
tions of love and sympathy been guilty of flagrant abuses 
of the rights to inflict punishments. However, there are 
imperative demands upon the school which if they are to be 
met must be met through the right and privilege of pun- 
ishments. Further, if the school would succeed and have the 
approval of society it must make up by nurture whatever it 
lacks by nature along these lines and whatever the pupils 
in the school lack in ability. Method must be studied, 
moderation practiced and sympathy, care and gentleness 
cultivated. The day when " readin' and 'ritin' and 
'rithmetic " were " taught to the tune of a hickory stick " 
are chiefly past, as is the time when brute strength in the 
school on the part of the teacher compelled blind mechanical 
submission on the part of the pupil to arbitrary rules still 
more arbitrarily enforced, with the complete suppression, 
if not entire destruction of, all tendencies towards self ac- 
tivit}^ and individualism. Investigation of the past methods 
of inflicting punishments and the causes for which punish- 
ments were inflicted shows that the penal code of the school- 
room was severe and impractical, and even at times, brutal. 
For the making of the modern man as conceived by our 
present standard of education it was sadly misapplied. 
Especially was this true of physical punishments. Mental 
punishments were little known it seems, but sure, we are 
that it was practiced but little. It was also the rigid and 
unregulated application of the system that causod the agi- 
tation anc| reiaptjon, Punishments wer^ inflicted for almost 



Punishments 175 

any cause, trivial or grave and upon any part of the body, 
whether pupil were delicate or robust and the particular 
locality well or ill-adapted by nature to the kind of punish- 
ment inflicted. The result was that observation soon showed 
physical evil flowing from school punishment entirely out 
of proportion to the good which the school inflicted pun- 
ishment was intended to accomplish. This called not only 
the school methods into question but also the very existence 
of the school itself. 

What was there which the school gave that could com- 
pensate for nervous prostration brought on by super ex- 
citement from a whipping, deafness from a blow over the ear, 
blindness from one over the eye, or idiocy or insanity by one 
on the head? What had the school to give that could ade- 
quately compensate for genital or intestinal trouble induced 
by blows on the buttocks, or constipation, indigestion and 
other functional disorders produced by physical punishments 
inaptly applied to various parts of the body.? That school 
punishments have been known at times to have produced all 
of these troubles is a fact well established by investigation. 
The case cited by G. Stanley Hall from Richter of the record 
of an old Swabian school teacher by name Haberle, is a good 
instance of the morbid use of physical punishments mostly 
in a manner strictly forbidden by pedagogical principles, if 
not by public sentiment. These punishments were inflicted 
during a period of service extending over fifty-one years 
and seven months of service. Because of their enormity and 
the fact that they were carefully compiled by the teacher 
himself, I present them here. They are: 911,527 blows with 
a cane; 124,010 with a rod; 20,989 with a ruler; 136,715 
with the hand ; 60,295 over the mouth ; 7,905 boxes on the 
ear; 1,115,800 snaps on the head (with the tips of fingers 
and knuckles); 22,763 nota benes, with bible, catechism, 
hymn book and grammar; 777 times boys had to kneel on 
peas; 613 times on triangular blocks of wood; 500 had to 
carry a timber mare and 1,701 had to hold the rod high — 
the last two being punishments of his own invention. Of 
the blows with the cane 800,000 were for Latin vowels and 



176 Education in Theory and Practice 

76,000 of those with the rod for bible verses and hymns. 
He used a scolding vocabulary of over 3,000 terms of which 
one third were of his own creation. 

This was undoubtedly an unusual case. One, perhaps, 
in need of pathological treatment. But in the earlier daj's, 
before the reaction set in, it had many counterparts through- 
out the civilized world though perhaps they were somewhat 
less severe. Is it any wonder then that there was an ener- 
getic reaction against this method of punishment in the 
school? Is it any wonder that it spread rapidly far and 
wide? France under the influence that produced Rousseau 
and Montaigne went to the other extreme and forbade cor- 
poral punishment in her schools, having now all of her dis- 
ciplinary and governmental school measures free from all 
advocacy of it. In Germany and most other countries of 
Continental Europe, though allowed, physical punishment 
is strictly limited and prescribed as to kind, method of ad- 
ministering, parts of the body fit for receiving various kinds 
of punishments and the causes for which certain punishments 
may be afflicted. In this country we have in general followed 
in the wake of England, Germany and the other countries 
of Continental Europe. There are a few men in this coun- 
try among them educators of considerable influence and 
recognition who advocate the French pedagogical practice 
of no physical punishments in the school. Too, many sec- 
tions and even states in the eastern part of the country led 
on by the earnest advocacy of one or more theorist and 
idealist have legislated many forms of ph3'sical punishments 
out of the school. Some of the teachers in the schools have 
succeeded in keeping school evidentl}^ successfully without 
the aid of these forms of physical punishments. Others, 
however, have apparently fared worse with the experiment 
and have because the experiment failed returned to the old 
method. One such city is New York. In most cases though 
the reaction from the prohibition of all corporal punish- 
ment did not return us to the old regime, it did not allow 
the use of physical punishment under certain specific re- 
strictions. Under the general scheme of local rights and 
individualism in our American system of education such an 



Punishments 177 

intermediate (compromise) ground seems to have been the 
best obtainable. Even to-day such cities as Baltimore, Md., 
West Chester, and Harriburg, Pa., strictly forbid all forms 
of physical punishment. 

The Purpose of Punishments. The purpose of punish- 
ments is to curb infractions and rebellious spirits and vouch- 
safe to society a maximum amount of freedom of action with 
a minimum amount of restriction and thereby increase the 
sum total of human happiness. In the school its purpose 
is to reform the wrong doer, to deter others from wrong 
doing and to give to school processes opportunity for the 
maximum working efficiency and conservation of time. Until 
man reaches a state of absolute perfection, mentally, morally 
and physically, until human knowledge shall be complete 
and all individual feelings, emotions, desires and impulses 
melt away into group consciousness and become identical 
with it and all human standards one, until all human action 
becomes absolutely free and all human imperfections gone 
there will be need of punishments, mental for some, corporal 
for others and both for still others to deter, reform and hold 
in check those who either ignorantly ignore or willfully trans- 
gress upon the rights of others and restrict them in the full 
and proper exercise of their individual rights and privileges. 
The basis of all punishments are the rights and best good 
of the majority. They are to repress in the individual all 
unsocial tendencies and make of him a fit member of the so- 
cial group. In our modern conception which we have in- 
herited probably from the views propagated by Hume the 
individual is secondary and the group primary. This is 
true in the school. While the individual has rights as such 
and apart from the group, the interests of all the pupils 
separately are subordinated to the interests of the class as 
a whole. Whenever one of the school would override the 
best good of the school he is brought back to that kind of 
conduct that is in harmony with the group (school) inter- 
ests. 

The Demand for Punishments. The school exists for the 
purpose of fitting individuals for the lives they are to lead 
among their fellows, equip them with and show them the use 



178 Education in Theory and Practice 

of such tools as they need to maintain themselves and help 
others to self maintenance. This duty of the school is im- 
perative. To perform it, it has access to the whole category 
of penalties for application when it is found to be necessary 
to appeal to them. The cases that arise for management 
run the whole gamut of individualities. There are some 
who seem to have no social tendencies as far as their school 
mates are concerned. In them there is no love, no affection. 
Not caring particularly for the society of their fellows nor 
that of the teacher they neither desire their approbations and 
its effects nor do they fear their disapprobation. Tliis 
may be easily seen by the conduct of such pupils toward 
their fellows. For those there is no hope except through 
the infliction of physical pain. Such pupils generally have 
peculiar moods and temperaments and due regard must al- 
ways be had for such in administering punishments. Bodily 
pain when inflicted must be recognized by the sufferer as a 
natural and necessary consequence of his act. The admin- 
isterer must have before-hand fully impressed upon him his 
good will toward him and have shown him the demand in 
the act for punishment to come. On the other hand there 
are natures timorous and easily intimidated. Care must be 
exercised not to destroy self assertiveness and the natural 
tendencies to action in such pupils. 

The Reason of Being of Punishments. Since the dawn of 
the reaction against the severity of the various forms of 
physical punishments, much has been written about the na- 
ture and forms of punishments. In this connection the the- 
ories of Rousseau as brought out most clearly in his " Emile," 
and of Spencer as set forth in his essay on " Education " 
are basic and to-day quite popular. Both write from 
practically the same viewpoint and in general advocate the 
same nature and form of punishments. Spencer's princi- 
ples have a biological basis while Rousseau's rests perhaps 
more on a physiological basis. Both of their theories have 
had far reaching effects upon all educational theories and 
practice. His plea is for " natural punishments." He bases 
his arguments on the theory of the pleasure-pain economy in 
nature. According to it all of those adjustments and activi- 



Punishments 179 

ties are harmful which bring pain to the organism ; bene- 
ficial all of those which bring pleasure. In the moral world 
he makes things biologically harmful wrong and those bio- 
logically beneficial he makes right. " That conduct, then, 
whose total moral results, immediate and remote, are bene- 
ficial is good conduct ; while conduct whose total results, im- 
mediate and remote are injurious is bad conduct." Spen- 
cer's philosophy here as elsewhere is a sort of natural ma- 
terialism that is mechanically self-operative and self-per- 
petuative. Here he would have acts and their effects 
mechanically react one upon the other. Here the bodily 
pain or pleasure that w^ould follow any act would be the 
inevitable result issuing forth as a reward or punishment of 
such act. All acts that bring pleasure to the individual he 
would class as morally right and those that bring pain as 
morally wrong. All the teacher is to do is to stand aside 
and let nature take its course. Where the teacher deigns 
to enter and interpose he must not depart from the methods 
of nature. This theory has its good points as well as its 
bad ones. In favor of it, it might be argued that the pun- 
ishments are unavoidable and inevitable. They also have 
an advantage in being free from many of the flagrant abuses 
of all artificial punishments. Being " constant, direct, un- 
hesitating and not to be escaped " they remove the confusion 
and misunderstanding arising from moods and temperaments 
and other external circumstances attendant upon the inflic- 
tion of punishments. They are proportionate to the degree 
of the offense, " a slight accident (wrong) brings a slight 
pain (punishment), a more serious one a greater pain." 
There is no room manifestly for such things as malice, re- 
venge or passion. No double punishments will occur here 
and no promise will be made only to be forgotten later. All 
will be a silent, rigorous performance where all are treated 
alike on sunshiny days and cloudy days, when the digestion 
is good and when it is bad, when there is sickness and when 
there is health on the part of the teacher. The child in his 
daily life is subject to a sj'stem of order that persists in 
unerring and unswerving force from life to death. " If the 
cliild runs a pin into its finger pain follows. If it does it 



180 Education in Theory and Practice 

again, there is again the same result and so on perpetually-" 
It " listens to no excuse and from it there is no appeal ; it 
is the order not only of school but also of life." 

Spencer's theory of natural punishments is practicable, 
easily understood and capable of ready application in the 
schoolroom, besides possessing the merit of being a system 
for conduct in life. Wliile there is much in nature that man 
imitates and the injunction everywhere a common place " be 
natural " has its virtues, there are times and places where 
not only do we not wish to be natural but in fact desire 
to be everything else except natural. Art has shown that 
it can make decided improvements on nature. The fact is 
that the very purpose of the school and school processes, the 
state and society, is to overcome and improve upon nature ; 
to make us not natural but artificial. Culture for which we 
all struggle is directly away from nature. Validity is 
claimed for this theory of Spencer's on the basis that it is 
a biological principle and therefore fundamental. While 
this is true it also is a fact that it has value chiefly in bio- 
logical matters. Applied to the realm of reason, feeling 
and emotion it falls far short of what its promulgator and 
devotees had hoped for it. Besides it is contrary to the 
modern social order. The tendency to-day is to alleviate 
pain and to save from the physiological effects of natural 
law. Legislation both in school and state and common 
usage in society all are directed to that end. In the home 
there is mitigation of transgression and oftentimes success- 
ful appeal from it ; in the state so common has this become 
that legal procedure has been robbed almost entirely of its 
effectiveness as a deterrent from crime by the elaborate sys- 
tem of mitigation and appeal now a part of it. Since 
the school is a preparation for life in the state and society 
why may this not prevail in it also.'' Again the theory is 
certainly foreign to present pedagogical principles which 
claim for themselves grounding in extensive scientific investi- 
gation. The very thing we seek for in punishment, namely, 
reformation and the good will of the cliild is here impossible. 
All natures suffer alike whether through ignorance, evil in- 
tention, accident or even good intention. The sick and 



Punishments 181 

afflicted with the well and hearty, equally if not more in- 
tensely because of their increased nervous tension, the low 
and brutish natures alike with the high and ephemeral, the 
highly sentimental and responsive temperaments equally with 
the less sentimental and less responsive temperaments. Mis- 
understanding and ignorance have the same punishments as 
knowledge and willfulness. Its most flagrant and glaring 
fault, however, is that it makes no allowance whatever for 
the element of intent in the agent, a principle that is uni- 
versally in practice in all penal codes and legal procedure 
in Christendom and which is the basis of modern pedagogy. 
Besides with nature there is neither gentleness, love nor sym- 
pathy, by which the school is expected to bring out that 
which is best in the pupil and arouse him to higher and 
nobler ambitions. But even to consider this theory in the 
field of biology which is its stronghold, here also the practices 
of men are in favor of mitigating and alleviating punishments 
for the transgression of natural law. 

The theory attacked in its stronghold totters and falls. 
If the child pricks his finger with a pin, medicinal applica- 
tion reduces materially if it does not remove entirely the 
ensuing pain. We daily transgress both biological and 
physiological laws and either escape the penalties or materi- 
ally mitigate them. In fact the entire science of medicine 
owes its very existence to the full knowledge that the effects 
of the transgression of biological laws can be more or less 
escaped by the cunning application on the part of the physi- 
cian of various healing and remedial agents in the physical 
world about us. Other transgressions committed may be 
delayed and by living " model lives " for a while or for the 
rest of one's life the effects of these biological sins of either 
omission or commission become lost on us in the general 
tone of health that follows. Many wrongs biologically are 
thus committed and the organism never knowingly suffers 
for them. Furthermore in the cases of indifference to knowl- 
edge and neglect of it during tHe school age the penalty, if 
allowed to come by nature, would be delayed until the child 
grows to maturity before its full effects would be felt by 
him. At the time when he neither knows the value of knowl- 



182 Education in Theory and Practice 

edge, nor what the effects of the Lack of it will be on his 
future, natural punishment would let him go free and later 
when it is too late to check one's self in the loss of given 
opportunity, where the power, at least to a full degree, of 
association of the cause of the punishment with its effect is 
gone, and when there is no opportunity to benefit by the 
punishment and consequently it can do no good, it comes 
with all of its train of suffering and misery. 

One of the chief elements in the effectiveness of artificial 
punishments as advocated by modern pedagogy is that it 
should not be delayed long after the act for which it is to 
be inflicted has been committed, so that in the mind of the 
miscreant there may be a full association of the act as a 
cause with the punishment as an effect. In the cases of 
many persons punishments (as effects) both natural and 
artificial wlien delayed are seldom if ever fully associated 
with their causes. With children in whom the chain of 
cause and effect is but poorly established in thought, the 
danger of failing to grasp this relation in penalties is great 
enough when the wrong and the penalty for it follow each 
closely in time, but immeasurably greater becomes the likeli- 
hood of the absence of this association when punishments for 
acts are delayed for a greater or less length of time. 

Natural punishments are to be condemned further because 
in many cases in them the " sins of the fathers are often 
visited upon the children unto the third and forth genera- 
tion." A fact undoubtedly at odds with the present prac- 
tical even if to some extent materialistic conception both of 
morality and justice. Another point worthy of consideration 
here is that the senses may become so distorted as to make 
pleasurable feelings that would undoubtedly be harmful to the 
organism. Then, too, many bodily states naturally pleasur- 
able are harmful and many things naturally pleasant of 
themselves are biologically harmful and even deadly. So 
that from the viewpoint of modern pedagogy the theories of 
Spencer are not very applicable in the penal code of the 
schoolroom. The whole system of penalties as practiced 
to-day is one of reformation sought to be brought about by 
temporizing with the individual will. A compromise, as it 



Punishments 183 

has well been called, between the abstract method of nature 
and the concrete relative method of mind. 

The Value of Justification of Punishment. German peda- 
gogy advocates physical punishments because they are effec- 
tive, require little time and are particularly adopted to 
children of low intellectual and moral natures. Children 
who fail to yield to all of the mental means of approach to 
their inner life of thought and action must be appealed to 
through sense, especially through the sense of feeling. This 
appeal to the senses should be made only when the gravity 
of the situation demands it. Oftentimes some acts have more 
serious consequences at one time than at another. Some- 
times again they upset or undo things of greater import than 
others and sometimes they create situations that may even 
affect the life or success of the school. When for such cases 
punishments are inflicted they should be carefully adopted 
to the sensibility of the child in the first place and to his 
sense of responsibility in the second. Some children are 
highly sensitive and light blows cause great pain while on 
the other hand there are many children with dull and dead- 
ened sensibilities upon whom even vigorous blows have only 
slightly painful effects. Blows that bring great pain to 
the one may hardl}' arouse the deadened periphery of the 
other. In the other case young children and children who 
have had slight moral or intellectual training have not a 
highly developed sense of responsibility. The child who 
does something and knows beforehand that it will be held 
as a serious crime and will lead to various results that are 
serious in the hindrance of the attainment of individual or 
group ends and still persists in doing it, obviously requires 
greater punishment than he who has little knowledge of the 
far reaching effects of his deeds, or who was by reason of 
age or training vaguely aware of their consequence. 

Punishments tend again by too frequent repetition to be- 
come ineffective. The moral nature becomes callous and 
there is thereafter no response to the punitive stimuli when 
applied. There is danger in such cases of producing the 
hardened criminal. Other means should be employed as a 
deterrent. For here the very end of punishment — reforma- 



184 Education in Theory and Practice 

tion — is being destroyed. Sometimes there is a frequent 
repetition of the act, not so much because the punishment 
was not severe enough, but chiefly because the punishment 
was not of the right kind, or perhaps too long delayed. 
There is always danger from delayed punishments which 
may lead as said above to the improper association of cause 
and which therefore may lead to a misunderstanding be- 
tween teacher and pupil resulting in resentment on the part 
of the pupil toward the teacher. When not thus created 
hardness of feeling and indifference to punishments may arise 
when they are too severe and injurious. School punishments 
should produce no more pain than is required to inhibit the ap- 
parent tendency to the forbidden form of activity and bring 
about the ends necessary to promote successful class work. 
Punishments have a two fold end in view ; they aim to pro- 
mote the welfare of the class and to effect the reform of the 
individual. Justice must be done to both. Punitive systems 
that would neglect either principle would fall short of their 
mission in the schoolroom. In both cases the effects of the 
penalties should be enforced as quickly as possible. Hence 
any and all forms of punishments that involve functional or 
bodily injuries are to be condemned most severely. 

The Effect of Fumshment on the Teacher. One of the 
strongest arguments against the use of physical punish- 
ments in the schoolroom by those opposed to it, is, that be- 
sides the effects it has upon the child, some good, some ques- 
tionable as to their good effects and some decidedly harmful, 
it is filled with certain very undesirable effects upon the 
teacher himself. The first of these deleterious effects is that 
it lowers the self-respect of the teacher and robs him of the 
finer feelings of kindliness and sympathetic care. Indeed 
it is claimed that it dissipates aU of the finer qualities and 
ennobling social traits and characteristics. The next step 
in the process is the reduction of him to the plane of the 
brute. This is at once a very serious charge against the 
administering of punishments. In this connection it nnght 
be added that it is a fact that once the finer feelings are 
deadened, the brute in man, always near the surface very 
easily and quickly gains the ascendency. Still it is an ob- 



Punishments 185 

vious fact that teachers who allow themselves to see in the 
acts of children elements demanding physical punishments 
and who can bring themselves readily to believe that an 
appeal to physical pain is the only means of deterring them 
from the transgression of rules sometimes misunderstand 
child psychic life and attribute the wrong motive to many a 
well intending act and to many an act that was thoughtless 
and consequently without real motive. So they can gradu- 
ally bring themselves to believe that children are evil at 
heart and either need to be harshly governed, or else have no 
means of appeal by which they can be reached except through 
the physical medium of the body. When teachers have 
reached this state of mind in regard to child life and action 
their best days of usefulness in the schoolroom are rapidly 
approaching an end if not already there. For either they 
ruin the nature of the child and make of him a hardened 
malefactor, give him a perverted idea of the world's standard, 
beget in him disrespect for the teacher or an attitude of re- 
bellion. In either of which cases the end of the school, the 
proper education and training of the youth is lost. 

The next step, of antagonism to the child and childish 
activity, is easily reached. For when the teacher has brought 
himself to believe that the child is wrong at heart and be- 
lieves that there is an evil motive in all or most all that he 
does that is a transgression of rules, he begins to think it 
necessary to anticipate the child and to cross him in liis 
acts with prohibitions that restrain him in his every activity, 
which is his only way of self expression. Too, he thinks it 
both best and necessary to deny the child every request, 
both the innocent and the evil intending. The result upon 
the child is a reaction in which the teacher appears not as his 
friend but as his ever watchful enemy who constantly stands 
between him and any and all forms of pleasurable activity. 
It is easily seen that no teacher so regarded by a pupil can 
gain from him the amount of attention and good will neces- 
sary for him to impart knowledge or even arouse in him 
the interest necessary for the proper performance of the 
minor details in the educative schoolroom processes. Re- 
sentment into which this state of things sooner or later drifts. 



186 Education in Theory and Practice 

more often sooner than later, leads to results for the child 
which culminate in the putting of an early end to the school 
life of the child. This is a most serious result, yet how often 
is it the history of a boy or a girl. Oftentimes the brightest 
is thus early cut off from the advantages of the school. 
Parents signally disappointed in the failure of their chil- 
dren to make progress in school and be contented there, many 
of whom had their hearts gladdened by the successes of their 
children in earlier grades and under other teachers, but ig- 
norant of the true cause, or, if aware of it, ignorant of the 
means whereby they may overcome it, or, if acquainted with 
the means, unable to bring them to effective use, finally give 
their reluctant consent for their children to stop school. 
Oftentimes, also, too proud to admit of friction or trouble 
with their children at school, they pass off the incident by 
the statement that their child has quit school to go to work, 
adding oftentimes by way of explanation that he prefers 
this particular kind of work to that of school work or has 
no taste for book knowledge. 

Thus the young life is blighted or thrown out into the 
world of action with a serious handicap. Thousands of 
children, many of whom are fine specimens of humanity with 
promising futures, some of them a delicate, sensitive nature, 
each year pass out of the public schools into the great busi- 
ness of life simply because they were not understood, because 
of which the determined but well intending teacher, an 
ardent advocate of the use of the rod, drove them away and 
forever spoiled them for school life by an unfortunate appeal 
to the rod, when a word or a look from the teacher with a 
private talk or something of the sort would have saved the 
teacher and saved the pupil to the parents and to the world 
at large. These are potent arguments against the use of 
physical punishments by the teacher, arguments that should 
appeal to the innocent and guilty alike. But it does not 
mean that we should go to the other extreme and banish by 
statutory enactment physical punishments from the school 
entirely. What the situation demands is an appeal to the 
highest judgments and deepest sympathy of the teacher and 
a careful study of each individual with a liberal allowance 



Punishments 187 

for child nature, its natural tendency to activity, love of 
action and lack in such of all predetermined motive for ac- 
tion. This, followed on the part of the teacher by deliber- 
ated, but careful treatment based upon the best analysis of 
the needs of the case that he can bring to bear upon it will 
generally save the day for all concerned. This seems to be 
the best, the only method that will insure a fair degree of 
success in the use of physical and mental punishments in the 
schoolroom. 

The Kinds of Punishments. The physical punishments 
practiced in the schoolroom have been as varied as the in- 
ventive genius of the teacher could make them. If all of 
the various forms of physical jaunishments that have been 
devised and practiced upon school-children could be de- 
scribed, they would more than likely fill many ordinary 
volumes. While there are certain forms of punishment gen- 
erally known to the school in the heyday of the practice, 
each teacher was a law unto himself and as a result there 
was no end to the methods adopted to inflict pain both to 
bring the erring one back to the paths of rectitude, and deter 
him and his companions from again leaving the straight and 
narrow path for the alluring call of the activity of childhood 
and youth into the highway and byway. In general we re- 
gard as punishments anything which wilfully applied to any 
one causes inconvenience, displeasure or pain, that is un- 
willingly born and that is intended as a deterrent from 
similar conduct in the future. In any community an in- 
dividual is free to apply any form of punishments which the 
public sentiment of that community will permit. This is 
an uncertain and fluctuating element it is true, yet when one 
uses punitive systems, if he is to succeed with them his only 
hope of administering them is to have either the active sup- 
port or passive acquiescence of the public sentiment of his 
immediate community. The kinds of punishment admin- 
istered by the Swabian school master Haberle, mentioned 
above might be included here. To them might be added 
various forms of sitting and standing postures and even kneel- 
ing postures with or without extra means of increasing pain. 
The application of blows to the body by means of the hands 



188 Education in Theory and Practice 

and feet and other artificially improvised instruments, the 
assignment of various tasks in school or out and during, 
before or after school hours, these three groups either alone 
or in combination will include most of the forms of physical 
punishments known to the school. Mental punishments also 
open a vast field to the teacher. These mostly depend for 
their strength on the social feelings of the individual, the 
emotions and desires that owe their existence to the fact 
of the group life. They too may undergo almost infinite 
variations. 

a. The Reprimand. Out of this infinity of punishments 
that are thus possible and the myriad that are known to have 
been in vogue in the schoolroom we can only devote a brief 
word to a few which because of their importance are deemed 
worthy of consideration. The first one that will be treated 
is the reprimand. The reprimand is one of the commonest 
forms of punishment in use in the schoolroom to-day. Like 
all other punishments it has its good and its bad uses. Like 
others also its virtue lies in its being restricted to specific 
cases and in its being dealt out sparingly. Reprimand in 
the hand of an unskilled disciplinarian may sometimes take 
the form of a threat or scolding. At once it loses its power 
for good. Under any and all circumstances threats have been 
proved to be productive of but little good. Given out under 
strain of anger or excitment and amid the pressure of other 
duties they too often pass out of thought as soon as the 
occasion that called them forth has ceased to exist. When 
thus treated they put the teacher in a false light and put a 
premium upon bad conduct, by fostering the belief that there 
is little possibility of punishment following, when the condi- 
tions for the administering of it are unfavorable. The other 
faulty side of threats is that they invite transgression. 
The child is told not to do a certain thing which should 
be suflficient, but instead of stopping there and letting his 
past conduct prove what will follow he adds, that if obedience 
is not forthcoming such and such punishments will follow. 
This course is obverse to two primary pedagogical principles. 
In the first place the child knows if punisliment is to follow 
just what it is going to be, can judge as to whether or not 



Punishments 189 

he is willing to suffer it, and put himself into the mental 
and pliysical attitude to receive it. Besides it gives his 
mates opportunity to tease and provoke him until his pride 
is reached with a new train of reactions, whereupon the pupil 
may determine upon some line of conduct that causes the in- 
fliction of the penalty to be devoid of disciplinary value, or 
makes its infliction difficult and hazardous or even impossible. 
In some cases it has caused the child to leave school or 
drawn the parents and school authorities into the affair. 
Upon some natures, too, threats only incite to action. Hav- 
ing been told what will happen the pupil sometimes thinks 
it his right to show all either that this particular thing will 
not happen, or that if it must and does happen he determines 
that both teacher and pupils shall see that he has no fear 
of any such consequences, a dangerous evidence of false 
courage. 

As for scolding it is never to be advised. It not only makes 
a mere prattler out of the teacher, but it is also discouraging 
and exasperating to the pupil. It awakens resentment in 
the pupil and causes him to lose both respect for the teacher 
and confidence in him. Upon gentle natures it has a pecu- 
liarly de-energizing effect. While upon stronger tempera- 
ments it falls like water on a duck's back. A few instances 
are on record, however, where a severe scolding on a high 
plane, not low vindictive name calling and fault finding has 
been productive of highly satisfactor}^ results. This, though, 
is the exception and not the rule and the evil effects conse- 
quent in the wake of scolding still forbid its use to any extent 
in the schoolroom. 

The reprimand itself when kept from turning into these 
two forms is a source of power in the hands of a skillful 
teacher, and is very effective in schoolroom management. 
Reprimands like all forms of punishments should be brief, and 
always kind. Their sole purpose is to serve as a deterrent 
and a reminder to both malefactor and school that the rules 
of the school are not to be broken and if broken " the way 
of the transgressor will be hard." Reprimands may be 
either public or private. Public reprimands are regarded 
by all from the very principle that underlies their effective- 



190 Education in Theory and Practice 

ness as more severe than private reprimands. Public repri- 
mands while justifiable under certain conditions should be as 
rare as possible, for fear that they lose their sting and con- 
sequent disciplinary value. They are a power in school dis- 
cipline and should never be abused. For when these have 
lost their effectiveness there is no adequate substitute for 
them, as it is a well known fact that usually a large majority 
of students prefer almost any kind and severity of punish- 
ment rather than a reprimand, especially a public one. 

b. Detention and the Assignment of Tasks. Detention 
after school and the assignment of tasks either before, during 
or after school are methods of punishment very much in vogue. 
These, too, have their good and bad sides, the latter tending 
strongly to discount them rather than make them of any 
merit. The chief drawback to detention after school is 
that in general schoolrooms are not often fit either for pupils 
or teacher after school hours. Rooms are cold and ventila- 
tion as well as light is bad and cannot be remedied, ventila- 
tion, often because there is no heat to create a circulation 
of air, and light, because the sun is mostly too low in the 
horizon for its rays to possess much penetrative or light giv- 
ing properties. Besides both teacher and pupil are in no 
fit physical condition to get the desired effects out of the 
punishment. More often the teacher who has much dis- 
cipline to do during the day is so worn out that the punish- 
ment is oftentimes more severe upon the teacher than upon 
the pupil. Too often also in the moments of reflection after 
school the teacher repents and the pupil is dismissed long 
before the expiration of the time of detention originally an- 
nounced. The pupil soon notices this fact and the use of 
detention after school as a means of punishment soon loses 
its efficiency for him and through his advertisement of it 
for the school. A good plan is never to let it be known how 
long the child is to be detained. Then the teacher is free 
to dismiss him at his will without thereby compromising him- 
self. In general, tliough, long detentions after school hours 
are inadvisable under any circumstances. They often af- 
fect the outside duties of the pupils, under which circum- 
stances the teacher comes in for an unfair amount of adverse 



Punishments 191 

criticism, too often, in the presence of the child. It is 
much more advisable for the teacher in such cases to visit the 
child's parents or guardian and to seek aid there. At times 
summary corporal punishment may be substituted for lengthy 
detentions with wholesome effects. Many school boards be- 
cause of the abuse of this method of punishment by exasper- 
ated teachers and the continued complaint of parents against 
it have made explicit rules regulating the practice and limit- 
ing it otherwise. In general noon recess hours are incon- 
venient for detention both to pupil and teacher and are 
accordingly legislated against. In the evening there is a 
maximum limit established by many school boards. 

The assignment of tasks as a means of punishment is not 
so common, the chief danger from them being the likelihood 
of the child associating the unpleasantness here developed 
in the performance of the task with the task itself and not 
as was intended with the wrong done. In which case a dislike 
for study, or for that particular study is fostered, the very 
thing that was not desired. The virtue of the method then 
will be seen to be limited chiefly to those cases where the 
task assigned is an unperformed school task. Even then 
it is best when it is a task in which the pupil is a poor student 
and the task to be done necessary for the further progress 
of the child in his advance work with the class. For the 
work of the school to be at its best, to be pleasurably, well 
and willingly done it ought, if possible, never be allowed to 
descend to the level of a distasteful task. 

Corporal Punishment is the great bone of contention in 
the schoolroom discipline. There are ardent advocates of 
it and equally ardent opponents to it. Whatever may ap- 
pear to have been said against it here is not intended to ad- 
vocate its abolishment, but rather to bring about its re- 
stricted use in the schoolroom. It is a kind of punishment 
that is easily applied by all. Because of this it is quite likely 
to be abused in its use. It is only the abuses of it that we 
cry out against. Children are in the foniiative period. 
They exhibit many tendencies that are unsocial and even 
dangerous to the social equilibrium, many of their tendencies 
are anarchistic and even annihilistic, which if allowed to 



192 Education in Theory and Practice 

develop will bring untold misery and suffering upon humanity. 
These tendencies must be overcome at all hazards. In their 
incipiency they may be uprooted easily. But if left to grow 
to their full strength and maturity it may be necessary to 
destroy the individual in order to nullify the tendency. It 
would obviously be an abused system of punishment which 
hesitated for a moment to inflict severe corporal punishment 
rather than run the risk by a method of false kindness and 
misplaced sympathy to allow these tendencies to get firmly 
rooted in the " nature " of an individual. The " whys and 
wherefors " of corporal punishment as well as the conditions 
under which it should be inflicted together with its justifica- 
tion and dangers have already been given. These circum- 
stances failing the resort to corporal punishment is justi- 
fiable. Every individual born recapitulates in brief the life 
history of the race. He comes into the world a type of all 
of the former savagery of his race, no matter how advanced 
the society may be into which he is born. All of his savage 
tendencies — and he has them galore — have to be curbed, 
controlled and either eradicated or directed. If he is to be- 
come a member of this advanced society all of his unsocial 
tendencies and instincts have to be removed at all costs. 
Any savage traits appearing and left to develop unchecked 
will tend to unsocialize him and take him back to the savage, 
de-civilize him. Children have little or no concrete knowl- 
edge of relations or of consequences. We who have such 
knowledge must regulate their conduct for them. Heredity 
is a biological principle. Biological change is slow ; it comes 
only after long periods of time. To think then that the 
children of the cultured will all have natural tendencies to 
culture is evidently an error. At least, whatever tendencies 
they have in this direction, which are incidental, are sub- 
ordinate to those of the tendencies of the race, which are 
fundamental. Personally the author favors a regulative 
and punitive system that is in harmony with real life. A 
child should early learn both in the home and the school 
that which he will meet in life. Not to the extent of ruining 
or destroying him but to the extent of saving him. Any 
pettyfogging home or school system of penalties that out 



Punishments 193 

of fear or kindness allows a child to grow up uncontrolled, 
ungoverned and unamenable to law is a disgrace to itself, 
and the school which does so has forfeited its justification 
for its existence and support and should be " recalled." 
The theory that education should be pleasant, interesting 
and the system to the child's liking is all very good and even 
desirable as an abstract ideal. But those who place the re- 
sponsibility for attaining this ideal on the teacher, even, 
assuming, that all teachers are perfect in their profession, 
have no knowledge either of child nature or of human na- 
ture if they expect them to accomplish the desired ends 
without a rigid system of penalties. Children are worlds 
unto themselves and oftentimes more complicated in their 
action and reaction than teachers. Now when other means 
fail to beget certain kinds of responses physical stimuli must 
be applied to control and direct the action of one child toward 
another. While every child is not a direct offspring of his 
Satanic majesty himself, he is also not the image of the babe 
Christ, but is more than likely somewhere between these ex- 
tremes. Wherever he stands the teacher must take him, get 
acquainted Avith him and then make of him a being fit for 
society by imparting to him knowledge and instilling into 
him modes of conduct in the forms of physical and mental 
action and reaction. This child has both an intellect and 
a will. Both of which will have to be reckoned with in every 
form of caprice known to man and devil. Here lies the 
problem. To solve it will require both staff and rod. 

c. Suspension and Expulsion. Both of these methods of 
punishment are to be the means of last resort. With children 
under the school age limit they are impossible because of the 
compulsor}'^ school law. Only when all other means of con- 
trol have been exhausted and the best good of the school 
demands it should it be tried. It puts the child out of reach 
of the sphere and influence of the school and is only justi- 
fiable when either the school can do the pupil no more good 
or he is such a disturbing element in the school that lie 
threatens the welfare of the school, or both. So serious is 
the question of suspension or expulsion that in most cases 
no teacher is allowed the free exercise of the power, Gen^r^ 



194 Education in Theory and Practice 

ally it is only possible with the consent of the principal or 
superintendent, or both. This does not apply to older pu- 
pils who are presumed to have reached the age of responsi- 
bility and to know what the consequences of their acts will be. 
Even in these cases best good demands that every other ap- 
peal be made to a pupil before resorting to suspension or ex- 
pulsion. Of the two expulsion is the more severe. It 
excludes a pupil from school for a school term generally, 
while suspension excludes him for any length of time less 
than such. Most cases of suspension range between the 
period of a week to a month. It has been argued that ex- 
pulsion may be for any length that the school authorities 
may name. But it is generally conceded that its limit of 
enforcement is for one year. 

Witnesses to Punishment. Experience has taught that 
the teacher who is responsible for the enforcement of a rule 
that is broken should inflict the punishment, if the best re- 
sults in discipline are to be obtained and the teacher is to 
retain a high degree of efficiency in enforcing school laws. 
Many school boards and superintendents have rules that 
only the principal may inflict corporal punishments. These 
are without a doubt wise regulations and have their justi- 
fication in the fact that in the public schools most of the 
teachers are women who because of their weak physical na- 
tures are incapable of successfully administering punish- 
ment to the older and stronger recalcitrant pupils, while 
the principals are generally men with sufficient physical 
strength to enforce the school regulations in all of the or- 
dinary cases. Another reason for such regulations is that 
the principal is generally a more experienced disciplinarian 
and should know more means of eff"ectively administering 
punishments. Again he does not experience the constant 
contact with the pupils that the teacher does. Not knowing 
him then there is a tendency for them to both fear and respect 
him. Another good point in favor of this method is that 
the principal is less likely to inflict punishment under provo- 
cation or anger, or be moved by personal feeling or malice. 
Too he will have the time to reason with the individual with- 



Punishvients 195 

out prejudice or preconceived bias. Oftentimes, however, 
it becomes necessary for teachers to administer corporal 
punishment without calHng in the principal. In such cases 
this should be done. It has a salutary effect upon the 
school and gives the teacher ordinarily increased power to 
control. For where the pupil is punished by the principal 
especially if the teacher is absent the pupil feels that the 
teacher is not a party to the punishment and in fact knows 
but little of it and as a result he may feel free to commit 
fresh crimes, especially if he is of the temperament to be 
easily goaded by the taunts of his fellow^s. 

Punishments before the whole school should be rare. Too 
much care cannot be exercised in the inflicting of public 
corporal punishment, if there is any sentiment in the com- 
munity against it. Such sentiment exists to a more or less 
degree in almost every community. Wherever such a senti- 
ment is pronounced either in the community or the home the 
pupils soon learn how to take advantage of it for their own 
benefit. It is surprising, too, in how many ways they can 
turn it to account. When they become witnesses to acts of 
corporal punishment they are quite apt innocently to get 
distorted and enlarged ideas of the intensity of the pun- 
ishment inflicted and exaggerate it either with or without 
evil intent, to outsiders. In such cases it will be always ad- 
visable for the teacher to take special precautionary measures 
to see that no overt act of his shall give credence to such 
reports. Care ma^^ be exercised for example in the selection 
of instruments of punishment and in choosing the parts of 
the body for receiving the punishment. Sensitive or vital 
parts of the body should be avoided. Those instruments 
also that have ugly associations such as raAvhides, various 
forms and sizes of whips, pointers and especiall}^ all forms 
of weapons that will break easily should be let alone. If 
teachers have reasons to fear unfair or unreasonable censure 
it is better in such cases to have a fellow teacher or some 
one else in authority and in sympathy with the work present 
as a witness if for no other reason than as a protective meas- 
ure. Besides a fellow teacher, some other person in authority 



196 Education in Theory and Practice 

such as the principal, superintendent or even a member of 
the board or one of the commissioners who is friendly may 
be called in as a witness. Though also sometimes good may 
result by having parents come in and administer or assist in 
administering punishment the practice in general is to be 
condemned, as it weakens the teacher's control over the 
pupils and often invites the interference of parents where 
their interference is not only not desired but may be even 
dangerous. 

But Avitnesses or no witnesses there are certain forms of 
corporal punishments that are not to be indulged in, though 
if forced to the defensive teachers must do whatever the 
situation demands. Punishments that descend to the plane 
of brutality are always to be condemned. Corporal pun- 
isments that disturb bodily functions or cause lasting injury 
or excessive and long enduring pain beyond the degree to 
correct and deter fall under this same black list, as do all 
indiscriminate uses of the hand on the body or limbs of the 
child. In this relation boxes on the ear as endangering the 
sense of hearing and slaps on the cheek or anj^where in the 
face, as dangerous to the nose and eyes, or mouth, as having 
the danger of disfiguration, all fall under the above as 
tabooed methods of punishment in the schoolroom. All forms 
of physical punishments that cause excessive strain or pain 
in the limbs or other parts of the body have been condemned 
by modern pedagogy as unhygienic and filled with invisible 
dangers physiologicall}'. In all such cases, however, the 
critical situation is the teacher's and he must master it, if 
he is to hold his own and do his work. This first and last, 
but with it all at all times are to be associated the demands 
of the individual, the school, the communit}^, the state and 
societ}'. He is to give the situation the best, the noblest 
and the highest that is in him, but first and last he must be 
master, he must rule, direct, instruct, and teach, without any 
form of punishment if possible but with them if necessary. 

REFERENCE READING 

Compayre's " Psycholo^ Applied to Education." Chap. XIV. 
O'Shea's "Social Development and Education." Chap. XV. 



Punishments 197 

Arnold's " School and Class Management." Chap. VI, Sect. 5, VII. 

Perry's "Management of a City School." Chaps. VIII, IX. 

Dinsmore's " Teaching a District School." Chaps. X, VI. 

Baldwin's " School Management and School Methods." Chap. XIV. 

Fitch's " Lectures on Teaching." Chaps. XV, IV. 

White's "School Management." P. 190. 

See also references to chapters on Discipline and Schoolroom Super- 



CHAPTER IX 

INCENTIVES AND STIMULANTS IN EDUCATION 

JBesides being both a reformative and a deterrent in forms of 
conduct, punislnnenis are a stimulant to activity in educa- 
tion. At least it should be in the caj)acit_y of the former 
that punishments should function in the schoolroom routine, 
while other means that appeal to something- higher in the 
subject than mere bodily pain or mental discomfort should 
serve as an exciting agent or stimulant to arouse interest 
and spur on the will so as to tide the pupil safely over the 
rough and unpleasant places in the school life. For, just 
as the normal body enjoys healthful exercise for a time, but 
after a brief period of activity requires also another period 
for rest, recuperation and a re-storing of the bodily energy 
used up in action, so does the mind after like periods of activ- 
ity grow weary and require corresponding periods of rest and 
recuperation. In like manner just as there are times in the 
history of bodily activit}^, when for the good of the organism, 
as well as for the good of other organisms like itself and 
dependent upon itself it is necessary for the body both to 
possess and at times employ means of producing activity 
when weary and even when almost exhausted, in order that 
the organism itself and other organisms related to and per- 
haps dependent upon it might exist, so in the case of the in- 
tellect it is necessary that there exist means, when it is tired 
and disposed to rest, of enforcing upon it activity at the 
cost of inconvenience, discomfort and even pain, in order 
that the best good or continued activity of the intellect itself 
or of other intellects dependent upon or closely related to it 
might continue to exist and function. 

In the case of the intellect, this source of enforcing activity 
when necessary to gain a distant or remote end, whether 
fully realized or not, is the will. When the individual can- 

198 



Incentives and Stimulants in Education 199 

not fully realize or appreciate an end in action because it is 
remote it responds but feebly to a will that compels also 
feebly. In such cases action must be engendered by those 
properly empowered with rights to arouse the will to action 
by stimulants, who do see and appreciate the value in the 
enconomy of life of these distant ends. This is the case 
in matters of education and it is upon this that the right 
is granted. In the minds of the pupils most of the ends 
of education are secondary and remote. As such they are 
but little appreciated by those who come under the juris- 
diction of the school. Consequently those charged with 
responsibility for getting certain results in the school proc- 
esses must either substitute temporary and immediate ends 
that can be readily appreciated or use various forms of stimu- 
lants to arouse the will to action where the ends tliemselves 
because remote fail to do so. The will may be aroused to 
action by stimulants working internally or externally. 
These stimulants are eitlier natural or artificial. The nat- 
ural stimulants to intellectual action are the same as the 
natural stimulants to any form of human action, and as a 
fact of knowledge are as old as the science of mind itself 
and has developed concomitantly with the development of 
the knowledge which that science has brought us. These 
natural stimulants are the emotions, motives and desires as 
aroused by things which by nature in and of themselves are 
stimulative to action. The knoAvledge of artificial stimu- 
lants unlike their counterparts, the natural stimulants, have 
developed chiefly along with the science of pedagogy. In 
actual practice it appears that the artificial stimulants 
though less lasting in their effects and the success they bring, 
are more in use and oftentimes more effective where used 
than the natural stimulants. 

Artificial stimulants to intellectual activity are generally 
grouped under the one head of rewards, but are more often 
considered under the more special heads of prizes, privileges 
and immunities. The chief reason for the effectiveness and 
practical value of prizes is that they are easily accessible and 
besides being something tangible that furnishes immediate 
pleasure to the body and mind are more concrete than 



200 Education in Theory and Practice 

privileges and immunities which are therefore less effective 
and have less of practical value in them. The appeal to these 
stimulants and corresponding dependence upon them for re- 
sults in educative processes, have both a good and a bad side. 
The artificial stimulants as was said above are more com- 
monly in use and more effective for immediate results though 
the natural stimulants are to be more preferred because their 
effects though more difficult to obtain are more lasting and 
far-reaching when once they are obtained. 

The Nature and Justification of Rewards. The custom 
of giving rewards in the forms of prizes, privileges and im- 
munities is an intricate part of our social and political 
system of government as well as of that of our systems of 
education. Inasmuch, therefore, as the school is supposed 
to fit one for life in the world of action about him and inas- 
much as educational institutions reflect both social and po- 
litical institutions in the ends they seek to attain, not only 
will many of the practices of social and political institutions 
be found in the school but except in a few minor details in 
which the ideals of the school will be apart from that of 
the state and society, the practices of the former will be 
heartil}^ approved and assiduously taught in the latter, for 
the perpetuation of which through instruction in it the school 
receives its first and primarily commissioned duty. This 
practice therefore receives general sanction and has become 
a commonplace if not indeed a necessity in our educational 
systems. The efforts of the school may be and indeed should 
be toward so restricting it as to keep it on a high plane 
and remove from it whatever of the unmoral it may have re- 
ceived in practice. The problem in education as already 
stated lies in the fact that its ends are remote and mostly 
abstract. The child Avith which the school deals is incapable 
of either conceiving or undertaking to attain these ends 
except in a vague and indefinite manner. The moment, there- 
fore, the schoolwork becomes the least bit irksome and force 
either physical or mental is applied to urge the child on in 
his work the reason for it and the end it will serve in his life 
are called into question by him. The fact of his competency 
or incompetency to properly pass judgment upon it never 



Incentives and Stimulants in Education 201 

becomes a part of the issue. When this time arrives, there 
must be something tangible in the form of ends presented 
by the school to satisfy this demand, or the whole system, 
of which this is a part, is condemned by the child as useless 
and becomes a process in life to be avoided as an obstruction 
to his wishes and desires, the necessity for which is generally 
to him inexplicable. This demand the school must satisfy. 
To this end it has created the system of rewards and pun- 
ishments in order to hold the child while the intermediate 
processes leading to the more remote end are being success- 
fully carried on. This is perhaps a most important reason 
for the presence in schoolwork of both forms of stimulants. 
Humanitarians and all moral workers with men find it difficult 
to get matured individuals to labor long for distant ends. 
If such is the case with the mature upon whom life's re- 
sponsibilities fall with much increased intensity, how much 
more difficult will it be to attain these ends with children who 
have not yet felt or appreciated the intensity of life's re- 
sponsibilities. 

The purpose of rewards is to give incentive to action. 
Experience has shown that neither children nor grown ups 
will long pursue good for its own sake. Rewards, however, 
are only a temporary incentive to action. Herein lies their 
chief danger as well as the unfortunate need of their con- 
stant renewal and change to maintain their force as stimu- 
lants. However, they may be made into a system such 
that, if they are carefully administered, much of the demand 
for various punishments to aid in the attainments of the 
more distant ends of education may be done away Avith. 
Rewards receive their power from the fact that they awaken 
new and vivid emotions and desires and connect in a pleasur- 
able manner achievement with the efforts of labor. Without 
stimulants experience has proven that there is no motive to 
effort. Remove from labor the motive and you rob it of 
its flavor. " Just as the object of punislmient is to establish 
in the child's mind an association of ideas between the fault 
committed and suffering or privation ; so the reward is in- 
tended to connect the idea of a duty accomplished with that 
of the pleasure which results from it," writes Compayre. 



202 Education in Theory and Practice 

Like all other school methods the use of rewards is capable 
of abuse and as such is to be most rigidly condemned. Like 
punishments also, their value rests in their use with tact and 
discretion. It has been found out that the receiving of re- 
wards tends to create vanity in the recipient and jealousy 
upon the part of the other members of the school by de- 
veloping in the school as a whole dangerous motives and de- 
sires. Too often, also in the continued offering of rewards 
for work or conduct both pupils and teacher lose sight of 
the distant end of education in the receiving and awarding 
of rewards. The habit has very frequently been known to 
engender a false standard in the pupil. The pupils under 
such a system too often get to working for the reward in- 
stead of for the real end of educational effort, knowledge, 
skill and ability. This is often the case when rewards 
possess much intrinsic value. It has been found a good ex- 
pedient at times in these matters to have all rewards get 
their chief value from their relation to the ends desired, 
rather than from any quality inherent in the object itself. 
In all that is said about the giving of rewards the fact must 
not be overlooked that care should be taken that the reward 
is placed fairly within the reach of all and each and every 
one should be encouraged to feel that he possesses equal 
chances for it, if he will do his work according to instruc- 
tion and directions. Closely following this announcement 
and encouragement to compete, the conditions of awarding 
them should be so made as to really make the chances of all 
equal. 

Prizes. In the giving of prizes there are two essential 
qualities that should always characterize the act. In the 
first place prizes should represent real, conscious and pro- 
longed effort. If they fail to call forth this their basic end, 
that of stimulation to action, their effect is lost, whereupon 
they react to defeat their own end. The association of 
effort with the gaining of the prize is the only natural pleas- 
ure that is to be derived from its winning. In the second 
place prizes should represent real achievement, real progi*ess 
made along the line of the endeavor. Though it is not al- 
ways possible to do so, care should be taken that the thing 



Incentives and Stimulants m Education 203 

achieved, the progress made, should not be lost sight of by 
the individual gaining it but it should become a permanent 
part of the child's mental and moral possessions. Too often 
these essentials are overlooked entirely or forced far into 
the background while details much less permanent and bene- 
ficial to the child are substituted. In the giving of prizes 
it is customary to use medals fittingly inscribed (and even 
without inscription) and books. Though there is in the 
act itself no essential need of restriction of the practice to 
these two classes of prizes. One of the things desired in 
giving prizes is that the prize shall be lasting. This is 
especially true of medals. The essential element of a prize 
other than its durability is tliat it shall afford intimate 
association with and relation to the acts which won it. 
Money is objectionable as a prize because of the tendency 
too often with it to becloud the real end, and the motive in 
awarding becomes an end in itself. Money may be and 
often is made into a medal and with the simple medal may be 
preserved as a relic of school days and early achievement and 
as such may be kept as a family heirloom. Books on the 
other hand are to be particularly recommended as prizes, 
because they gain their value from the knowledge they con- 
tain, the inspiration and ideals they foster, their freedom 
from all tendency to turn the mind of the recipient away 
from the real end for which the prize w^as originally awarded, 
their variety and the small expense attached to procuring 
them. Too, the giving of prizes must be svifficiently infre- 
quent and the prizes of such a nature as to be always desired 
and worth putting forth the effort required to attain them. 
The success of awarding prizes depends apart from the 
intrinsic characteristics just mentioned also upon the time, 
place and circumstances of their awarding. There is con- 
siderable danger for example in the public awarding of 
prizes. The visitors are too often unacquainted with that 
for which the prize was offered, what is meant to be gained 
by the teacher in offering them and what it is intended 
thereby to do for the pupils who are working for the prize. 
In the absence of this information fictitious ends are sub- 
stituted for the real ones and the rewards themselves thereby 



S04 Education in Theory and Practice 

gain secondary values that are often very dangerous to the 
welfare both of pupil and teacher. It is at the point where 
outsiders become interested in the nature of the prizes, their 
winning and awarding that the wrong spirit is likely to be 
instilled into the pupils and the effort to win the prize be- 
come at bottom the effort of one family to gain outward 
evidence of excellence and superiority over another family. 
At this point prize awarding in the school may engender 
the bitterest kind of feeling. It may then become an occa- 
sion when every act of the teacher, whether justly so or 
not, comes in for severe criticisms and antagonisms, which 
may result in the loss of position by the teacher or maybe 
the beginning of lasting animosity in the community. How- 
ever, where prizes are for results where the assistance of out- 
siders is desired it is justifiable to award the prizes in their 
presence and even to let them know beforehand that presents 
will be awarded for such. This is particularly advisable for 
such as the family, friends or community residents who can 
aid in effecting a remedy for good attendance and punctu- 
ality, or, where the outsiders have control over the accom- 
plishing of the desired end. Many autliors advocate giving 
prizes for work which was done by the pupil without a knowl- 
edge that a reward was to follow the successful completion 
of a given kind or piece of work. 

While at first sight this may not seem to be fair to all in 
that the pupil has not had a warning to prepare himself and 
be at his best, it is to be commended because it strikes at 
that which was fundamental in the end of giving rewards, 
namely, the general excellence of the pupil and constancy 
in maintaining effective work in the routine and class work 
of the room. What is desired in offering prizes in the 
school is effective work and most surely those who work 
along steadily without any knowledge that they are to be 
especially rewarded for their work, but do it willingly and 
well at all times are to be encouraged. The fact of the 
matter is that this spirit is the very one desired and to be 
rewarded. This being the very attainment for which the 
prizes were originally offered, for which the act itself was 
thought out, introduced and continued and as such should 



Incentives and Stimulants in Education 205 

by no means be overlooked or neglected. The whole school 
should be encouraged in every way to work without thought 
of other reward than the mere gaining of knowledge and 
the formation of good habits of thought and action. When, 
then, incidentally, rewards come in the steady and unselfish 
pursuit of the end of education it would be joyfully received 
and have a salutary effect upon the school. Results arc 
always best when effort is put forth without the thought of 
any form of immediate or tangible reward. When this end 
cannot be gained without prize giving, then some other stimu- 
lant than prize giving is in order for things are wrong in 
such a school at bottom and the school needs a regenera- 
tion and reorganization. 

Prize giving is sanctioned by good usage everywhere but 
must be kept on a high plane and never be so frequent, or of 
such nature or value as to encompass the fading into the 
background of the real end of education and all forms of 
school processes. In education prizes are means to ends 
and can never become anything else, if the real end of the 
school and its processes is to be kept constantly in view and 
finally attained. 

Privileges. The granting of privileges is a common 
method of rewarding labor and achievement in the public 
schools. It may take the form of granting a partial holiday 
for the achievement of some particularly desirable but dif- 
ficult piece of work, with an excursion into the woods when 
the season is appropriate and every impulse within us and all 
nature without bids us abandon the confinement of the school 
and enjoy the beautiful flowers and the healthful sunshine. 
It ma}'^ take the form of bestowing the rights of the honor 
seat or the place of honor at the head of the class for the 
highest excellence in work in some one or several groups of 
subjects. In many schools, where there are private libraries, 
books are loaned to students who combine accuracy with 
speed, which they may read while the class as a whole is 
completing the exercise. Where special reading courses are 
outlined this time may well be given over to the reading of 
such works. In special libraries of current literature, where 
such magazines as the Youth's Companion, St. Nicholas or 



206 Education in Theory and Practice 

other hightone periodicals are maintained, access to these 
may be granted as special privileges. Where it has been 
found out that they can be loaned out for home use over night 
without bad effects upon the getting of lessons the reward 
might take this form of privilege with advantage. In tliis 
way also, a secondary end of education might be fostered, 
namely, that of creating a love for good literature and of 
affording a fit introduction to our best authors, for the 
sake of forming in the pupils desired traits of character and 
of giving them needed instruction and development along cer- 
tain definite lines ordinarily considered, without tlie range of 
the activity of the schoolroom. Needless to say, to meet 
with success the books must be inviting in their content as 
well as cultural and instructive, if the desired end is to be 
attained and the spirit of work kept up to a high degree of 
efficiency. The next step in granting privileges is perhaps 
the bestowing of the rights of monitorships to pupils as 
a reward for meritorious conduct and excellence in work. 
In granting all forms of privileges discretion and care are 
necessary in order to see that the^^ are not of too long dura- 
tion to discourage those not permitted to share them nor to 
allow those enjoying them to become either careless in their 
duties as monitors or fall to a low standard in the perform- 
ance either of the monitor duties or the schoolwork by the 
excellent completing of which the honors of monitorship 
came to them. The rights of monitorship should not run so 
long as to allow either the interest in its winning to lag, 
or the enjoyment of it to cease to be an object of desire. 
Their aim should be to maintain constant and wide aAvake 
effort. To induce renewed effort and maintain a Avide awake 
desire privileges where convenient and where there is no 
other serious objection should be reappointed upon the 
new standing either weekly or monthly. Only under rare 
circumstances will it be found advisable to let privileges run 
for a longer time, if the end to be obtained thereby, is the 
arousing and maintaihing of interest and increased activity 
on the part of the pupils in the work of the school. 

Due perhaps to the long sway of the law of the survival 
of the fittest operative under the principle of selection, the 



Incentives and Stimulants in Education 207 

intellect of man is particularly responsive to all forms of 
contest and competition. There are among men, by a na- 
ture inherited from the racial ancestry, temperaments which 
will exhaust themselves merely to appear to advantage among 
their fellows or seek places of so-called honor. Personal 
pride and love of approbation of their fellows are particularly 
strong stimulants to action for other natures. In grant- 
ing privileges care should be exercised to see that weaker 
natured pupils, who are by temperament predisposed to- 
wards contests and competition do not overdo themselves 
and wreck or ruin their lives by underdoing too great a 
strain. Serious shocks to educational progress and con- 
siderable adverse criticism of its methods are often brought 
about in the school by inaugurating a S3^stcm of calling 
forth effort that is damaging to health and bodily or mental 
welfare. Education of no sort much less that comparatively 
small amount furnished by the school can for a moment be 
weighed against health. Consequently anything in its 
methods or practices which is clearly damaging to health 
is to be condemned. The moment contests or competitions 
whether they carry with them bestowing of rewards or not, 
are announced, most such natures are at once on the qui vive. 
In the suspense and strain of the contest itself these natures 
are keyed up to a high degree of tension. With some the 
tension becomes so great as to upset the ph^^sical functions 
producing thereby organic nervousness with all of its evils 
of dyspepsia, constipation and other related disorders or 
even a nervous breakdown. When such conditions result 
the practice is undoubtedly bad and wisdom as well as best 
good, advises that it be discontinued. 

Immunities. Another practice common in school life to 
promote progress and induce work is the granting of im- 
munities. In some forms this practice is quite common and 
seems to have almost universal sanction by the leading au- 
thorities on pedagogics. In the granting of immunities the 
danger lies in the tendency to grant exemption from routine 
processes which often become tiresome and resultingly dis- 
tasteful. Much of the work of the school and of life con- 
sists of routine and the education of the child in it and 



208 Education in Theory and Practice 

the cultivation in him of a taste for it or at least the re- 
moval from him of all antipathy toward it is one of the chief 
duties of the schools. To extend, therefore, the granting 
of immunities to this phase of schoolwork would be, then, 
ostensibly detrimental to the main end of school training. 
Exemption from performing tasks that have no more than 
disciplinary value and which in no way materially affect the 
best good of the child or tend in any way to thwart the basic 
ends in education ma}^ and do receive common sanction. 
Tests and examinations are secondary means in education 
and from many sources are seriously questioned as to their 
practical value in educational processes. It is argued that 
they form no competent basis of judgment as to the work 
or ability of students, while they entail upon teacher and 
pupil much labor and loss of energy and time. The prac- 
tice of granting immunities from these is quite common. 
As they are supposed only to brighten up the pupils' memory, 
show the teacher wherein his teaching has been ineffective 
and with what pupils, and therefrom to justify his marking 
of a pupil in a particular manner, they may safely be con- 
sidered as of secondary value in education. If tests and 
examinations are regarded as such it will be taken as proper 
to exempt pupils from them as a reward from work, especially 
since they are so laborious and are too often the source of 
serious worry on the part of many pupils. These state- 
ments, however, are not to be taken as an argument for 
omitting tests and examinations altogether from schoolroom 
work as a useless method whose results are either unnecessary 
or undesirable for the school processes. Nor are they to 
be conceived as in any way an argument against them. For 
while tests and examinations may have their bad sides and 
may have several evils that follow in their wake they un- 
doubtedly are a great aid to the teacher in rendering judg- 
ments against the pupils and in estimating the progress they 
have made. But above all things they serve as a threatening 
spectre, a ghost that will not down, which when the category 
of stimulants is nearly exhausted still serves to quicken the 
mind to action and urge the lagging bodies on to the desired 
goal. The only thing is that too much store must not be 



Incentives and Stimulants im Education 209 

laid upon their mute evidence nor must their frequence be 
allowed to exhaust or Avorr}-^ down the energy of the pupils. 
In the case of reviews, the author hardly believes that any ex- 
perienced teacher, one who knows the practical knowledge 
gaining value of them and their power for giving under- 
standing and strength to thought, would advise their being 
used for immunities. The review is such a necessary part 
of the recitation to all pupils and at all times can offer 
something new to the pupil if the teacher is wide awake and 
full of his subject that no end otherwise desired can safely 
be offered as a justification for exemption from them. It is 
during the review that real correlated knowledge is gotten 
by the pupil, when a connected chain is forged out of the 
whole subject matter and the new link or links given their 
positions in the chain according to their relation. To allow- 
therefore, exemptions in this case would be to run the very 
risk of leaving the whole body of facts in the mind perhaps 
as a disorganized tangled mass which the mind could not 
lay hold of for use, not knowing them in their various rela- 
tions nor hoAv to use them in such. 

The Natural Stimidi. The natural stimuli emplo3'ed in 
the schoolroom to bring about educational activity on the part 
of the child are mostly abstract and distant in their effects. 
It is for tliis reason that the sj^stem of socalled artificial 
stimulants were found necessary in order to offer something 
to the child that was both concrete and immediate and as 
such would prove to be a force immediate in inducing ac- 
tive response. In the last analysis man is essentially and 
fundamentally a social being. All of his bodily functions 
and tendencies to action that are not purely biological in 
nature owe their origin and consequent development to this 
fact. Even those tendencies pronounced to be unsocial, 
which it is the aim of the schoolroom processes to either re- 
move or curb and redirect, and which while their ultimate 
results are either harmful to social progress or even de- 
structive of the existence of the social group itself, are trace- 
able back to an origin that lies deeply imbedded in the action 
made necessary by the contact and struggle incident to 
our existence as a member of a social group. Selfishness, the 



210 Education in Theory and Practice 

most unsocial of all human emotions, for example, was evi- 
dently called into existence by the struggle for existence 
between the ego and alter of society. If there were not in 
society that which by demanding the substances of life for 
itself endangered the existence of the ego, the ego could 
never have felt or developed a supply of egoistic motions 
to oppose the demands of these altruistic emotions. In other 
words there can be no contradistinction nor antithesis be- 
tween the ego and the alter of the social group unless there 
is also a multiplicity of relations each with its own quota of 
needs. This requires in the natural order of things that 
more than one ego exist, which is the paramount fact of 
the world of endeavor and achievement. So that while there 
are unsocial tendencies that must be controlled or destroyed 
for the sake of society they owe their being to the existence 
of aggregate life. These the school must control and re- 
direct and make of them stimuli for educational activity. 
But while the unsocial tendencies have their value as educa- 
tional stimuli it is the social stimuli that the school can use 
to greatest effect to arouse the pupils to educational activity. 
Chief among these are love of approbation, love of commenda- 
tion, desire for knowledge and efficiency and desire for good 
standing. 

Love of Approbation. One of the greatest controlling 
forces in society is the desire for approval. It is often and 
justifiably called, because of its greatness as a controlling 
force in the actions of men, the love of approbation. This 
is at bottom a feeling in the members of the social group, 
of a dependence upon their fellows. It has grown apace with 
the great division of mental and physical labor of recent 
times. Practically all of the controlling forces available 
to society, the state and the school that do not deprive of 
life or libert}^ owe their effectiveness to the power of this 
love of approbation in man. Even self-esteem is based upon 
a false or true judgment of the value of self to society and 
social activity. Whenever in society the state or the school 
an individual is found to whom the good opinion and re- 
sultingly the good will of his fellows docs not appeal, there 
is but little left by means of which he may be controlled 



Incentives and Stimulants in Education 211 

other than the depriving him of his liberty of action or of 
his life. There is no force that will reach him outside of 
physical force and that must be so inflicted as to keep him 
in constant fear of it, or else he must be placed where he has 
not the freedom of action to carry out his unsocial tenden- 
cies. All of the common forms of natural stimuli to educa- 
tional activity whether of practical or theoretical utility 
in the school will when traced back to its origin be found 
to have grown out of this basic principle of love of approba- 
tion. Self is the original source of all action ; to self as a 
center all action returns. The approbation of self by self 
and the approbation of self by others while interactive and 
co-dependent cover the whole category of incentives and 
stimuli to action. Desire for excellence in general and in 
schoolwork in particular, desire for praise and emulation, 
desire for knowledge and efficiency* also love of duty, love 
of right and love of honor, all are but forms of approbation, 
some purely approbation of others, some purely approbation 
of self, some still a mixture of the two. Self-esteem also 
is often advanced as a natural stimulus to action, but this 
too more exactly speaking is a form of self approbation. 
The desire for present and future good, and all forms of 
desire for personal welfare both physical and mental gain 
their force as incentives to action and labor both in the 
schoolroom and out, as much from the principle of approba- 
tion as from the biological principle of the struggle for ex- 
istence. As a means to an end in educational activity it 
is probably second to this principle in its practical value, 
especially whenever the school processes are given a direct 
relation to it. 

Good Standing. The desire for good standing though 
classed in the group of natural incentives to school work 
has seen such current application and been given such a form 
as to make it almost an artificial means for the attainment 
of education. It is one of the most common means now in 
use to obtain desired results in school work, and perhaps one 
of the largest. Too often both by cliildren and parents 
grades are taken as evidence of excellence and become desired 
in place of it, the shadow becomes substituted for the sub- 



811 Education in Theory and Practice 

stance. The whole school becomes dominated by it until 
school processes are directed to that end and all activity 
on the part of the pupil has the attainment of a certain grade 
in view. When grades and marks represent true excellence 
and are real evidence of advancement and successful effort 
they bring real satisfaction to all and the effort which is 
thus called forth carries the pupils farther toward the goal 
in a way that is unquestionably beneficial. The desire for 
good standing offers a good opportunity, since the standard 
is an arbitrary one for the teachers to keep a high ideal be- 
fore the pupils and consequently raise it as the pupils appear 
to attain it, care being always exercised not to overtax the 
youthful energies of the child. If students realize that the 
standard is high, they will work hard to attain it and take 
greater pleasure in it when attained, the essential being first 
that it be such as can be attained by all and the second that 
it be such as can be thoroughly understood by them. The 
demand for a full understanding of that for which one is 
striving has been the ground for much real antagonism to 
any system of marking that involves the use of figures, 
especially figures of tAvo digits. This practice finds some 
grounds of defense in the higher grades, but in the lower 
grades especially the primary ones where the children are 
struggling with the simplest concepts of the relation of 
numbers in the arithmetical processes the use of figures of 
two digits can scarcely find justification. In the high schools 
and colleges where if any place figures of two or more digits 
can be used with a reasonable amount of understanding by 
all, agitation has caused reform and they use a simple system 
of symbols or figures of one place, but in the grades, espe- 
cially the lower grades, where above all places figures should 
have been abandoned because confusing and as such inef- 
fective as a stimulus for work, they are employed with great 
scruples. Symbols with their meaning and values well un- 
derstood may be used with satisfaction, but words expressing 
quality of work are much more satisfactory. Of course 
neither words nor symbols are satisfactory where competi- 
tions on the standard of mere grades are in vogue as they 
do not permit of the accurate classification necessary. 



Incentives tmd Stknulanta in Education 818 

School systems that approve of or advocate the use of such 
a system must use the numbers with two digits and even 
three digits at times when competition is close. Competi- 
tion has its bad side but it is only a means to an end and 
if it can be used in such a way as to make this end attain- 
able and still preserve other ends equally desirable there is 
nothing to do in fairness but sanction it. It is a natural and 
universal principle and cannot be safely overlooked in school 
when the child meets it outside of tlie school and must con- 
tinue to meet it throughout life. In giving marks, dissatis- 
faction either on the part of parent or pupil can often be 
remedied by having the pupils keep a record of their own. 
This, however entails considerable loss of time in comparison 
of grades between teacher and pupil. Because of the impera- 
tive demand for time for the other routine duties both for 
pupils and teacher this method cannot gain extensive use. 
A good substitute for it, if there seems for any reason to be 
general dissatisfaction with the marks, is to take a few mo- 
ments once or twice and mark a few pupils in public and 
upon that basis show the monthly averages that are possible 
in various subjects under different qualities of recitations. 
Many pupils as we all know are sadly devoid of any proper 
conception of what havoc a failure here and there during a 
month's recitation will create in that month's averages. 
Daily marking for whatever purpose is an exhaustive burden 
on the teacher especially if the class or classes are large. 
It is a source of wasted energy that often tells seriously on 
the quality of teaching. Too, its demand in order to prop- 
erly judge results is questionable. What the school aims 
at is regular, constant and faithful effort, not a spasmodic 
one called forth when some appreciable object is offered for 
a prize. By such methods of reward we reward only the 
superficial in effort and do even that in a purely mechanical 
way, while that which is fundamental in education and in 
life, persistent effort, is generally left unrewarded and often- 
times unnoticed. 

Commendation. Another form in which the desire of ap- 
probation shows itself is the desire for commendation. Com- 
mendation is the outward sign of appreciation of either well 



214 Education in Theory and Practice 

directed effort or successful achievement and is taken by 
those who receive it as an evidence of merit. Though 
commendation is a strong stimulant to gain renewed effort 
it is also capable of producing much harm unless carefully 
used. To begin with commendation should never be given 
except for work done by the use of will power and the ex- 
penditure of time and effort or even with some personal sac- 
rifice. To be effective as a stimulant commendation must 
not be dispensed too freely nor for work that has not decided 
merit in it. The value of it depends too upon the general 
respect and esteem in which the teacher is held by the pupils. 
Here is a case, too, where the teacher's standard soon tells. 
If he bestows commendation for a poor grade of work or 
work imperfectly done, the pupil soon adopts that as his 
standard and often forms as a result habits of carelessness 
and neglect that follow him through life. As was said about 
marks and grades, here too persistence at work even though 
not always successful should not be overlooked. Commenda- 
tions are particularly prone to arouse vanity. It forms 
an appetite that is whetted by satisfaction. In addition 
to this, commendation is especially effective with little chil- 
dren. Their whole soul can be aroused to activity by it. 
Since, however, the aim in school is to bring about work 
without stimulation, commendation should be applied in such 
a manner as to become more rare as the pupils advance in 
years, and the attempt made to secure results without an 
appeal to it. Private commendation where successful is to 
be more preferred than public commendation. In the former 
case it is valued for itself and obtains its strength chiefly 
through the influence the teacher exercises upon the child. 
In the latter the effort solicits the play of a desire for 
advantage over other pupils or perhaps again serves to 
satisfy some spirit of revenge that conditions in and about 
the school may have engendered. When it arouses these 
feelings it has passed its stage of usefulness and the best 
good of the school demands that it be immediately discon- 
tinued. Too often commendation descends to the level of 
mere flattery unstintingly bestowed. When this happens 
it is full time to call a halt. Nothing is so demoralizing 



Incentives and Stimulants in Education 215 

upon the work of a school as cheap flattery in the hands 
of an indiscreet and gullible teacher. When commendation 
takes the form of emulation which it may well do with older 
pupils it becomes more powerful if properly handled. The 
elements of self-esteem and desire for excellence give to it 
this increase of power as an incentive to action. Its virtue 
lies in the fact that coupled with the other elements there is 
generally present a definite ideal toward which the pupil is 
working. It carries with it generous and honorable am- 
bition. When these forces can be brought to bear upon a 
pupil to produce effort and successful achievement he is 
well on the road to a life of usefulness and is under the con- 
trol of forces that are generally guaranteed to take him 
safely through. The use of emulation has its dangers too, 
chief of which is the begetting of wrong standards and selfish 
ambitions, but in the hands of a high minded, exemplary 
teacher it may arouse a spirit for study and create ideals 
in it that have given to the world some of its greatest men 
of science, art and literature. 

Desire for Knozdedge and Efficiency. The intellect we 
learn from psychology is one of the " organs " of the mind, 
(a phase of manifestation of mind). Its functioning pro- 
duces knowledge. Like every other organ it is endowed with 
an innate desire for activity. This yearning for activity 
becomes in the mental life a craving for knowledge which it 
is claimed is a spontaneous and natural principle of the mind 
fundamental in all intelligent beings. Like all other func- 
tions both physical and mental, the functioning of the in- 
tellect is especially active in the early periods of life. Like 
all other functions when they are given full opportunity for 
exercise, the organism receives pleasure. Mental pleasures 
are distinguished from physical pleasures in being perhaps 
less intense, but more enduring. The satisfaction of the 
desire for knowledge is a continuous process that may con- 
tinue during the normal period of life of a healthy body 
and mind. It is true that the desire for knowledge and 
truth is one of the most noble as well as most enduring 
and useful desires that arises in the soul of man and one that 
actuates the men of science to wear themselves away in the 



216 Education in Theory and Practice 

search for new truth. It is also true that knowledge alone 
without its root in the more fundamental desire for approba- 
tion and the kindred feelings of esteem and personal welfare 
which they bring, would be a minor stimulant to intellectual 
effort. Knowledge in itself did it not bring with it access 
to the material goods of the world, high position, conscious- 
ness of excellence among our fellows and secret power above 
others, would become an object of little or no desire. Even 
the mere joy of knowing as an abstract quality is an in- 
significant stimulant to action unless it is known to bring 
to the possessor certain advantages not possessed by other 
men. The cravings of the mind are strong and are a suffi- 
cient reason for calling forth intense intellectual activity and 
lead often to self-sacrificing efforts in study and especially in 
research, that the uninitiated novice can never appreciate. 
But let it be abstracted from all other relations in life and 
be left to stand for its own sake and the previously unquench- 
able fire soon sinks to dying embers and is extinquished for 
the very want of sufficient fuel to maintain zeal. When it 
comes down to a fundamental fact nothing in life and its 
relation exists in and for itself, neither as force nor as mat- 
ter. Nothing has any value for its own unrelated sake, not 
even knowledge. In other words take away knowledge from 
its relation to human activities, its effectiveness and power 
in human affairs and make it of no earthly value except for 
knowledge and it can be of no use or value to man. " If 
salt has lost its savor wherewith shall it be salty.'' " If 
knowledge is of no value except for knowledge, of what use 
or value shall it be except for knowledge? No man could be 
induced to waste his time in the pursuit of something that 
is of no earthy value unless he were an abject fool. If he 
were proved not to be a fool then at once you would refuse 
to believe that he was doing something that was of no value 
to him or his fellows. This, of course, is contrary to popu- 
lar opinion, but is basic notwithstanding. If the possession 
of knowledge served no end in individual life other than to 
satisfy a demand for functional activity it would fluctuate 
with the rise and fall of bodily energy and would in its turn 
depend for its power upon lack of satiation. But this is 



Incentives and Stimulants m Education 217 

not the case in practice, there, the desire generally so over- 
runs the supply of the bodily energies that oftentimes ex- 
haustion, sickness and breakdowns resulting in death occur. 
It is because of its universal relation and theoretical control 
of these relations that makes it truly the most desirable thing 
in the world and consequently causes the sacrifice of all else 
in the world to attain it, even health and sometimes life. 
Seen in this relation by only a few it becomes the where- 
withal in life to the few. Whatever be the qualities of mind 
different from those of matter, mind cannot get too much 
food (knowledge) in its mental relations unless perhaps in 
those cases of morbid activity that are not normal but dis- 
eased states. 

Because the desire for knowledge is natural and its satis- 
faction keen, the use of it as an incentive to the pursuit of 
knowledge must of necessity be of practical value. To this 
end the teacher should bend his every effort. Daily evidence 
of the practical value of knowledge may furnish a beginning. 
When this has become effective theoretical values of knowl- 
edge may be taken up. The gaining of knowledge, however, 
is not a pleasure, in fact it is impossible unless there is ac- 
tivity, sometimes intense activity, enforced to the point of 
bodily suffering. As an organ in the knowledge getting 
process the intellect must function. No doubt neither 
knowledge, nor any amount of activity of the faculty of 
knowledge on the part of the teacher, is knowing for the 
child. His own intellect must act for itself and knowledge 
is the result. To impart knowledge a teacher must arouse 
the intellect of the pupil to action. Anything other than 
this is a misnomer. We must work upon the desire for 
activity, arousing it to action either normally or abnormally, 
naturally or unnaturally and then keep it aroused and active 
by means of various stimulants until it functions appropri- 
ately for itself, when the only demand then is that the activity 
be directed along the proper channels and the material for 
the activity be supplied in such a manner and amid such 
conditions as to make the activity pleasurable. Everything 
else will be assured, natural mental activity can be entrusted 
to nature. 



218 Education in Theory and Practice 

As a matter of fact the intellect begins to function at the 
beginning of life. The desire is there naturally and since 
the whole environment furnishes material the intellectual 
activity is well on its way when the school age is reached. 
The trouble begins here because the school processes so in- 
terfere with the natural processes as often to clog or cram 
the intellectual machinery in such a way as to materially 
hinder its action or even stop its normal processes. Then 
it has the burden of reawakening activity by artificial proc- 
esses which have all of the weaknesses and foibles of artifice 
against nature and the activity drags on amid theory and 
practice until the child either is finally gotten back into the 
right track or is ground out by the process an unfinished 
product to shift for himself in the more extensive world 
processes. In the complex life of to-day which is far from 
what we call nature, many unnatural things are necessary. 
This is true of school processes. Much of school routine 
is, and of necessity must be contrary to nature. In school 
nature and artifice (art) must mix. The danger lies in 
attempting with the young child in the lower grades to make 
the transition from nature too suddenly, so suddenly that we 
interrupt and destroy the methods of nature before the 
methods of art have gotten a working hold upon the child in- 
tellect. If this danger could be overcome all would be smooth 
sailing. At least, however, the teacher can advise himself 
well of the methods of nature and begin there and make 
gradual transition to the methods of art. This would make 
a revolution in many cases in methods and in still more 
cases, in results. Teaching to-day is too often false and 
artificial. As a result its efforts too often end in cor- 
responding failure. Activity is a normal condition of life, 
when this is made possible by nature or by means as nearly 
like those of nature as is possible, or by methods of transi- 
tion sufficiently gradual to enable a gradual transformation 
of nature. When this change in methods comes so suddenly 
as to check nature, tJie processes cease to bring natural 
pleasure strengthened by a consciousness of normal devel- 
opment added to a feeling of skill and power. These latter 
may then be made the source of secondary or derived pleas- 



Incentives and Stimulants in Education 219 

ures in activity whereby the ends of education may be the 
more readily and easily served. 

Love of Honor and Right. Love of honor and right are 
again both high forms of the basic principle of love of appro- 
bation. In fact they are stronger forms of it than those 
forms of it mentioned above. Of course, right doing has its 
own reward in the moral and intellectual world apart from 
the superficial reward which men accord it. The very fact 
of its being right in the generic sense of the word makes 
this a logical necessity. It is only because right doing has 
its own reward that it is designated right. Apart from 
this, right doing is rewarded by the fact that it is taken as 
an evidence of certain qualities of excellence, power, esteem 
and a successful pursuit of certain ideals common to civil- 
ized man, but which are attained in various degrees by dif- 
ferent individuals, that make it a source of approbation pri- 
marily in others and secondarily in self. If a child can be 
brought face to face with the fruits of right conduct that 
accrue in the very nature of things, that would be the high- 
est standard attainable. It is satisfactory, however, if he 
even be made to appreciate the values of right doing for the 
good of his fellows. As the appeal to the desire for appro- 
bation is one that is easily made and readily effective, its 
pedagogical value in the schoolroom is inestimable. Care 
must be taken always in this appeal, however, to see that 
the proper conception of right is present. Children in 
the home, on the street and in the school get sometimes 
not only crude and misleading conceptions of right, but even 
harmful conceptions of it. There are still others who have 
little or no conception of it at all. While the teacher must 
see daily evidences of the standards of right and wrong 
manifested by his pupils, in order to assure himself that all 
is as it should be, he should interest himself to find out 
wherein the standards are different from his and wherein 
wrong or low, and take pains to correct and elevate them. 
It is surprising to find out sometimes what low standards some 
pupils have, as well as, what high standards other pupils 
have. Especially are these facts more likely to come to the 
front in games and competitive contests than elsewhere, 



220 Education in Theory and Practice 

when the conflicting interests of self and others meet. These 
are sometimes more prominent in the games of boys than 
those of girls. The fact is the school child's code of morals 
is more often one of expediency and convenience than one 
of right, with self as the center from which all judgments 
emanate. The chief lessons necessary for pupils in right 
doing are to respect the rights of others. Because perhaps 
of the biological relations between egoism and life in the 
young, the interests of self seem to predominate and the 
young require careful instructions in their relations to others 
and their own rights in the premises. The duty of the 
school here is clear. 

Closely interwoven with the question of the love of right 
is that one of the love of honor. The real value of this feeling 
as an instrument of control in the schoolroom and an in- 
centive to perform the duties in the various forms of school 
routine and school exercises can hardly be overestimated. 
How universal and powerful the desire for honor is but 
little appreciated. Even in the most depraved, some sort 
of an idea and code of honor is present. The band of rob- 
bers and the den of thieves each has its individual code of 
honor. The code may not be one to which we would sub- 
scribe, but it suits their standard and all of the group gener- 
ally own fealty to it. The first thing, then, for the school 
teacher to do is to see to it that the standard of honor among 
his pupils is proper and of reasonable elevation morally, not 
over the heads of the pupils, in which case it will have little 
practical value for them, but as high as possible for the great- 
est appreciation and best good of the pupils. If this is be- 
low his standard once he gets the pupils consent to it he 
can easily take steps to elevate it. Most pupils have a keen 
sense of honor. So keen is it that when it has been developed 
in the wrong direction it is often difficult for the teacher to 
control the situation. Many a teacher has experienced dif- 
ficulty at some time in his work in getting pupils to " tell " 
on one another. But although " tattling " is always ob- 
noxious to the true teacher and therefore to be discouraged 
there are times when it is necessary to know the truth in 
a given case. At this time no false sense of honor should be 



Incentives and Stimulants in Education 221 

allowed to obstruct the course of justice in schoolroom dis- 
cipline and punisliment. The difference between tattling and 
giving desired information when asked for it directly if not 
fully appreciated can easily and readily be made clear. A 
high sense of honor with power to distinguish it in its desirable 
and undesirable form should always be encouraged and where 
absent every attempt should be made to arouse it. Let every 
pupil know what you think of his honor and what you think it 
ought to be. In whatever respect it is wanting it will prob- 
ably be not found so long. The history of pedagogy teems 
with cases illustrating the efficacy of putting faith in pupils 
and of letting them know that you trust them. The general 
experience is that they respond generously. The love of 
honor always proves especially valuable in maintaining dis- 
cipline and obtaining good government. In fact personal 
honor and integrity is the principle on which the practice of 
self-government in our various institutions of secondary edu- 
cation is based. It is of particular value in democratic forms 
of self-government, where each citizen is placed upon his 
merit and where the institutions of the state are dependent 
for their perpetuation upon the honor and loyalty of each 
citizen. Love of honor ought, therefore, be especially in 
schools of democratic countries. In the administration of 
the affairs of the school the love of honor of a pupil is some- 
times put under considerable strain because at times it be- 
comes necessary to appeal to a pupil for testimony against 
himself or his best friend. Here the love of honor is put to 
a severe test, but if it is fully appreciated and the pupil 
awake to his relations in the matter, the response to the 
appeal of honor wdll be satisfactorily forthcoming. By 
many, such a situation is based upon a false system of school 
government and is accordingly condemned. When such is 
necessary that justice might prevail, it is hardly deserving 
of a judgment of condemnation. The real fact in the mat- 
ter is, that the child should be taught not only not to shield 
himself in the wrong, but also not even to shield his brother, 
sister or best friend. Let him know from the start that it 
is unmanly and damaging to character to do wrong but it is 
far worse once the wrong is done to attempt to shield one- 



223 Education in Theory and Practice 

self by treachery or falsehood. Wrong and punishment 
should be so associated in his mind that when he does the 
one intentionally the other must and will follow. If he comes 
to this attitude about himself there will be but little trouble 
in getting him to reach the same conclusion about his friend. 
To do wrong is to merit condemnation and punishment, but 
to commit one wrong and then attempt to cover this by 
another wrong is deserA'ing of double condemnation and pun- 
ishment. Besides the deception in covering up the wrong is 
more damaging to character than the committing of the 
act itself. These aids to love of honor might become very 
powerful. If, too, the teacher Avould carefully discriminate 
in punishments based on the willful intention of the pupil to 
commit wrong he will find out that an appeal to his honor 
for the truth will be much more readily effective. 

These are a few of the incentives and stimulants in practice 
in the school to excite educational activity in the pupils, with 
relation to the fundamental spring of human action morally 
considered, namely, the love of approbation, also these taken 
in their relation to the method of applying them, and their 
effectiveness when applied in producing the desired ends in 
education. 

REFERENCE READING 

King's " Education for Social Efficiency.'' Chap. VIII. 
White's " School Management." P. 130. 



CHAPTER X 

ROUTINE AND ACCESSORY DUTIES OF THE 
TEACHER 

There are certain routine and accessory duties which all 
teachers find it necessary to do in order to have their work 
attain any degree of perfection and efficiency. Both ex- 
perience and observation have gone to show that while these 
duties must never be allowed to descend to the level of mere 
mechanism, they must be performed constantly and seriously 
by every teacher if the work of the school is to be of lasting 
benefit both in a general and in a special sense. Of these 
the routine duties are more or less elaborately worked out 
and in general are practiced everywhere, the accessory duties 
cover a more recent field of activity for the teacher. Their 
limitations are not yet clearly defined but during their still 
early period of growth they have already shown that within 
their confines there are numberless ways that they may both 
augment and intensify the influence and work of the school. 
The best evidence that we can produce of the effectiveness and 
helpfulness of these accessory duties to the school, is the fact 
that everywhere their need is being preached and the w^hole- 
some good they are doing being advertised, all resulting in 
the rapid and almost phenomenal spread and organization of 
these forces for educational purposes. These accessory 
duties of the school teacher lie in the field of activity and 
cooperation with such movements as civic clubs, mothers 
clubs, neighborhood and community assemblies and agitating 
other movements and assemblages w^hich look to human up- 
lift and give aid to the constructive forces of education as 
controlled and directed by the school. 

I. ROUTINE DUTIES 

Opening Exercises. Not all, nor even the greater part of 
the routine duties of the school can be mentioned here to 

223 



224 Education in Theory and Practice 

say nothing of discussing them. Indeed onl}' a few of the 
more important can receive our attention and only enough 
will be said of these to show what the general nature of these 
routine duties is and how their faithful performance affects 
the general welfare of the school and the working efficiency 
of the pupil. The first of these which will be dealt with, 
is the matter of holding opening exercises. To begin with 
opening exercises have been worked into the work of the day 
as a moment for " getting one's self together for the school- 
day." Because of this there is never much time to be de- 
voted to them. However, it has been made clearly evident 
that these opening exercises may be made the occasion for 
much opportune and helj^ful instruction in work not other- 
wise provided for in the school course and thereby become 
an elevating influence both on teacher and pupil. Besides 
these, the opening exercises furnish a splendid opportunity 
for religious instruction. Religious instruction as such is 
sadly absent from many of the homes from which the school 
draws the majority of its pupils. In some homes there is 
outright indifference and even open opposition to the re- 
ligious sentiments. In others it is merely neglected in the 
rush to meet other demands of life. But Avhatever may be 
the theoretical objections to religion on the part of any 
one, none can seriously or effectively deny that practically 
religion is a potent factor in controlling the actions and 
affairs of men. Chiefly because of the ignorance of the child, 
the crudeness of his knowledge and beliefs and the fact that 
he is psychically, mentally and morally in that historical 
stage of the race when religious beliefs held full sway and 
dominion over man, the child is particularly susceptible to 
the controlling influence of religious truths and religious 
sentiment. In the early formative period, when the im- 
pressibility of the mind is great, it is highly essential that 
the foundation of religious zeal and devotion be implanted 
in the child whereupon may be built a strong mental and 
moral superstructure. Of course this country is a republic 
and because of its conception of human rights tolerates 
every form of religious sect and creed that there is, so long 
as its operation does not interfere with the proper admini§- 



Routine and Accessory Duties of the Teacher 225 

tration of our civil and political institutions. This makes 
instruction in religion so far as the teaching of any creeds 
or dogmas is concerned impossible in the state system of 
schools which are maintained by the taxes levied upon and 
collected from all of the people alike irrespective of religious 
views and adherence to sects with their various creeds and 
dogmas. But it does not and should not prevent the con- 
ducting of devotional exercises in all of our public schools 
where proper love for God, respect for his laws and faith in 
the teachings of Jesus can be carefully instilled into the 
minds of the children of the country. This is perhaps the 
primary reason for holding general exercises during the day 
for the children. In some sections of the country the general 
sentiment of the community is against the holding of devo- 
tional exercises in the school. So strong is this adverse 
sentiment in some sections that it has resulted in the enact- 
ment of laws against it. However, even with this done it 
can hardly be claimed as sufficient grounds for not having 
some form of general exercises at the time when the entire 
body of students and teachers can be together, even if local 
conditions and problems should demand the holding of these 
exercises at another hour of the day than at the opening 
hour, that is more convenient for all. If the holding of open- 
ing exercises were justified only on religious grounds, in 
these sections where sentiment or statutory enactment pre- 
vailed to prevent these, there would be little further need of 
opening exercises. But opening exercises or when this is 
impracticable or impossible later hours of general assemblage 
have other functions to serve almost equally important. 
There is much other good such general gatherings of teachers 
and pupils may do. In the first place there is the general 
socializing tone and influence of good fellowship which it 
exerts over all. If at that time deference and regard in 
seating is had for the respective grades of pupils, such gather- 
ings may serve to quicken ambition and stimulate to whole- 
some activity all of the egoistic emotions and many of the 
altruistic emotions which react most directly upon the more 
general feeling of love of approbation. Again these gather- 
ings may be made the occasion for various forms of special 



226 Education in Theory and Practice 

instruction not otherwise provided for in the course. In 
the higher grades where separation permits this may be ex- 
tended to procuring outside talent for special instruction 
along a chosen line. Instruction in manners and morals 
may be profitably given at that time as well as instruction in 
the general rules and regulations governing conduct in and 
out of the building on and off the grounds and the method 
of their application and enforcement. The hour of the 
opening exercises may also be made the occasion of determin- 
ing punctuality and attendance of pupils. Especially is this 
true where there is departmental work and no other general 
assembly room where the supervision of attendance may be 
had. From the viewpoint of discipline these assemblies for 
the opening exercises have further justification. They offer 
an opportunity for the students to come into contact with 
the governing power, the principal, for example who will gen- 
erally preside at these meetings. They will also do good by 
bringing pupils into closer contact with the assisting teachers 
whom the pupils would perhaps not otherAvise learn to know 
until years afterward, if at all. Where these opening exer- 
cises are held in the separate rooms the individual teacher 
can so enforce his personal magnetism as to make these gath- 
erings a time of close communion and understanding, and, 
so interesting that they will become a time pleasantly an- 
ticipated by all, ushering in the day with a happy beginning. 
Under ordinar}^ circumstances the general value of this kind 
of an exercise in relation to the other work of the school can 
hardly justify the use of more than from five to fifteen min- 
utes of the school day for it. Nor would less than five 
minutes be of much profit for such an exercise. The mean 
average general in use for these opening exercises is ten min- 
utes. 

Length of School Hours. The questions of the dismissal 
of students and the length of time that they may safely be 
kept in school to insure tlie meeting of the greatest number 
of ends are without doubt next in importance. If not so, 
they are at least logically next in order, what is to be done 
with them while they are in school being treated of in other 
chapters. The dismissal of students is a matter to which 



Rout me and Accessory Duties of the Teacher 227 

much less time and attention is paid than to the opening ex- 
ercises. All authors on pedagogy unite in advocating that 
the hours of the primary pupils be shorter than those of the 
older pupils. Where they all assemble together this neces- 
sitates their being dismissed before the higher grade pupils. 
Oftentimes however, if it is found necessary to dismiss the 
lower grades before the higher grades because the smaller 
children who desire often to play with the older ones some- 
times get hurt or are " bullied," receiving rough handling 
that causes complaint from parents or guardians or from 
outsiders, merely passersby. Oftentimes, too, this same 
condition arises with different grades of the larger pupils. 
Once in a while it extends to different school buildings. 
Sometimes a demand is felt for a change in times of dis- 
missal of a class or of a whole school because of differences 
arising from the merest trifle between pupils of different 
buildings. Especially is this the case when there are schools 
for separate races, or in congested districts where there are 
large foreign elements in the population. Such friction has 
been known to cause serious trouble even provoking the call- 
ing of the civil authorities. In such cases the expedient of 
having one school open and dismiss sufficiently earlier or later 
than the other in order to give all of the students of the one 
grade or building time to scatter or get home before the 
others are dismissed is often tried with success. Where they 
are all of one building but different grades the demand for 
making the school hours of the little folks shorter resulting 
in their being dismissed from school earlier generally solves 
the problem. At least, it permits those in authority easily 
to lay the blame for the happening upon the really guilty 
one. Other expedients where the troubles arise between the 
respective grades or pupils of other buildings such as having 
one set of pupils restricted to one side of the street, especially 
if of another building or district ; or the expedient of having 
one set come and go from one corner and the other from the 
opposite corner have also been known to give satisfaction 
when tried. The school period is usually from nine to twelve 
and from two until four. This time being shortened from 
one half to an hour and a half for the primary grades, with 



228 Education in Theory and Practice 

recess periods corresponding to the grade. Some schools 
also have half day sessions while others begin earlier and hold 
later having one long, continuous session. 

The Keeping of Grades and Marks. The question of keep- 
ing grades and marks has alwa3^s been a cause of much dis- 
cussion among school teachers and school authorities. The 
question is not so much that grades should not be kept, as it 
is how much keeping of grades is necessary to bring about 
the highest degree of efficiency in schoolwork, it being as- 
sumed that by using grading as a means of producing sat- 
isfaction in the mind of the child and creating in him re- 
newed interest in and satisfaction with the work the quality 
of the work of the school is improved. Experience has 
taught that it is difficult for the teacher always to remember 
just what a given pupil deserves in a certain subject during 
the course of a month, especially if marks are given in num- 
bers of two or more digits. When the marks used are sym- 
bols of one digit up to and including ten the case is less dif- 
ficult. This represents a more general equality in marking, 
one that is more satisfactory and that will give more justice 
to all, that is much less laborious and which may be readily 
given at stated periods instead of during or immediately 
after each recitation. However, whatever system is used 
they should at all times be well understood by the pupils. 
Where rewards are given or the grading system is used as 
a means of stimulation and for the purpose of working upon 
the spirit of competition to more or less extent present in all 
pupils, in order to assure justice and satisfaction to all, a 
more exact system of grading is necessary. This is perhaps 
the basic justification of the system of numbers of two digits 
in keeping grades, and especially those of three digits which 
under this system of competition sometimes become necessary 
in order to decide " who is who " in cases of close competition. 
For mere promotion such an extensive and laborious system 
of keeping grades can hardly be justified, especially where 
the system is rational and not mechanical. 

Of course, where the pupils are promoted purely upon 
the grades they make, with no reference to their general or 
even special ability, or without the question of whether or 



Routine and Accessory Duties of the Teacher 2S9 

not they can do satisfactorily the work of the next grade, 
these elaborate systems of grade keeping may well be a neces- 
sity. But where the quality of the work done by a pupil 
during the whole year and his general efficiency in the work 
together with his ability to do the work of the next grade 
satisfactorily to himself and the teacher, are the prominent 
factors in the question of promotion, then, of course, the 
keeping of grades becomes secondary and is used merely to 
serve as a general guide to the more mature judgments of 
the teacher. When grades become the determining factor 
in all school promotions they become the sole goal for which 
the students strive and the means in education become sub- 
stituted for the ends, while the ends are lost sight of entirely. 
Education then becomes a failure and its processes worthy 
of the severest condemnation. It is a fact, however, that for 
the sake of justice there must be some keeping of grades. 
Oftentimes where the teacher's judgment is to be trusted 
entirely, the nature and occasion of the mistakes and neg- 
lects of pupils serve to magnify them as evil, while on the 
other hand like causes serve to minimize them, in each of 
which cases injustice obviously is done. Again, with time 
the kind of recitation made by certain pupils is lost sight of 
under some circumstances, while those made by others are 
easily remembered, all without any evil intent on the part of 
the teacher. Further the grades made in a given subject im- 
mediately preceeding the time of recording marks may become 
the determining factor in the marks, while those more remote 
are forgotten, thus again doing injustice to all, to some by 
their getting the good out of the more recent recitation and 
failing to get the bad out of the more remote or vice versa. 
Thus we see that for the best good both of pupil and teacher 
an accurately kept system of grades is necessary ; necessary 
to the pupil in order that he may feel sure that he is getting 
all that he is earning and also that he may know that he is 
being watched in his work from day to day ; necessary to the 
teacher in order that he may be sure that he is dealing out 
justice alike and at the same time protecting himself from any 
unfair criticism. In all of this he will have at all times in 
his possession a very powerful means of stimulating the pupils 



230 Education in Theory and Practice 

to good work. However, when it comes to the mere ques- 
tion of promotion much of the mechanical method of em- 
ploying grades to determine whether or not a pupil should 
be promoted as was said above, might be done away with in 
most cases with better results. Especially is this true when 
it comes to examinations. When an examination really 
covers generally the work gone over by the pupil it may be 
taken usually to represent the student's knowledge of the sub- 
ject and his ability to master it as well as the quality of teach- 
ing he has received in it. But regard must always be had for 
other circumstances entering into it to determine the result 
which a careful teacher who knows his pupils can easily de- 
tect. Pupils of a nervous temperament need never be ex- 
pected to do themselves credit in cases involving great 
nervous tension, as the very mention of examinations will 
probably excite such natures and cause them " to go to 
pieces " and " forget all they ever knew " about the subject 
matter. Sickness or general debility will also enter in as 
factors contributing to determine results. In all such cases 
greater satisfaction will be found to result if due allowance 
is made for the pupil when the facts are evident. 

One of the objections to the present extensive system in 
grading and the keeping of grades is its wear and tear upon 
the teacher by the amount of clerical work it entails upon 
him. This situation has to some extent been relieved by the 
use of printed forms supplied by the school authorities which 
only require filling in and signing by the teacher. But even 
with this there is still enormous work to be done upon the 
reports before it is time to fill in the blank report forms. 
There must be adding and dividing to obtain averages. This 
work must be correct. That is an absolute necessity. Now 
imagine a teacher with fifty pupils (many have a hundred 
or more), each having on an average six diff'ercnt subjects 
for marking. Add to this attendance, punctuality and de- 
portment. There are fifty cards to be filled out and aver- 
aged up requiring six, eight, ten or more hours of work. If 
the time could be had for this work in anything like rea- 
sonable amounts this would not be so bad. But most of it 
has to be snatched up during the school da^^s and evenings 



Routine and Accessory Duties of the Teacher 231 

at home between times in amounts often of ten and fifteen 
minutes. The recording of the marks of the day will take 
up all of the spare time of a teacher. Now if for the sake 
of convenience weekly records are made the teacher will have 
practically all of his extra hours taken up. Fortunately 
most grade reports are made out by the month, which does 
help some. But still the strain is great, much too great for 
one already so heavily taxed as a teacher. In addition to 
these, there are the term or semester, and yearly reports, 
both the grade reports to parents and the grade and official 
reports to the school authorities, to be made out. Many a 
teacher has gone into the schoolroom, vigorous and strong, 
bright and cheerful but a few years of this grind has brought 
him to the stage of the proverbial anaemic, sallow in color 
and lifeless in action, a bundle of nerves and a magazine of 
abnormally stored energy, that wins for school teaching the 
name of the " drudge " profession and for the teacher the 
name " scold." 

These reports are not without their purpose in the plan 
and process of education, but the question concerning them 
naturally is, is the purpose they serve sufficiently urgent and 
mandatory to warrant their preparation at such an enor- 
mous cost to the vitalit}^ and working ability of the teacher .? 
The teacher Avho spends his out of school hours even into 
the night perspiring and fretting over " averages " and " re- 
ports " when he lies down to rest is too overwrought to soon 
go to sleep or when asleep to get much rest and recuperation 
out of it. Without this rest and recuperation from sleep 
and with a constant demand upon his energies in the school- 
room day after day he soon wears away under the grind and 
is in no way prepared for matters of discipline, punishment 
nor even for matters of instruction. The result is that the 
school work suffers and the school runs do^vn while the teacher 
gradually becomes unfit for the proper performance of any 
part of his work. Besides this, the time for home study and 
home preparation of the lesson so necessary for successful 
teaching is taken up in this way and the more important du- 
ties of the schoolroom pay for it. Of course, the parents 
through reports learn just what their children are doing in 



232 Education in Theory and Practice 

the school in a way and the school authorities — the prin- 
cipal, superintendent, commissioner or board — also get some 
idea of attendance, enrollment work covered, etc., while 
the pupils on their side get some idea of their progress and 
may guess whether or not they are likely to pass. But many 
a parent signs the report without even looking at it and 
returns it; or he instructs some older brother or sister to do 
it, or he may even leave the report for the child himself to 
sign and return. Whereupon the whole aim of the teacher 
in doing and the school authority in having done, this enor- 
mous amount of work that has cost the teacher so much in 
time and effort being thus lightly cast aside without any 
material effect upon those for whom it was prepared, fails 
entirel3^ In many cases it is true, the report is carefully 
examined and the sending of a report means much both to 
parent and child. But the question is, does it pay to place 
such burdens upon the teacher at such cost to him in health 
and working efficiency? Principals, superintendents and 
others in authority must have reports in order to have direct 
knowledge of the working of the system and be able to prop- 
erly administer and direct it. In many cases taxes are as- 
sessed and appropriations made for the maintenance of the 
school, which funds are pro-rated out Avith the facts con- 
tained in some of the reports, demanded by the school author- 
ities, as a basis. These reports then would seem to be neces- 
sary for the very existence of the school as it exists under our 
present system of administration. A fact that serves to 
some extent to compensate for this form of report making and 
clerical work constitutes one form of its justification. So 
that, while much of this form of work entailed upon the 
teacher seems to be necessary, it is a fact that it induces 
upon him a serious and constant expenditure of energy so 
much needed for other work. It follows, therefore, that if 
for no other reason than for the sake of the schoolwork 
proper and the health of the teacher these duties ought to 
be reduced. The system of making reports should be re- 
duced in the frequency of issuing reports and the system or 
marking so changed as to give some noticeable relief. If 
this change reduced the number of stimulants applicable 



Routine and Accessory Duties of the Teacher 233 

to obtain good work others should be invented that will 
bring out desired results. These a resourceful teacher can 
readily invent, there being too many means already known 
to need mentioning here. 

Another time problem with the teacher is the question of 
correcting exercises at home. Much of the work of the 
class is such that work leading up to it or arising from it 
must be done outside of school hours by the teacher. The 
demand for teaching in the schoolroom will not permit its 
correction there, and in general the duties of discipline and 
punishment in the form of detention after school together 
with the keeping of daily records of the recitation, attend- 
ance, punctuality, etc., make it impossible to correct it after 
school hours. The remaining alternative is to correct the 
work at home. This then becomes another tax to sap the 
teacher's strength and vitality and reduce still lower his 
energy remaining for the work of the schoolroom. Of course 
there is good in it and the work the next day can progress 
better if the grades and papers are ready for the pupil and 
he can learn of his mistakes and the manner of correcting 
them. Too, once work of this kind is taken home for correc- 
tion, in order that the student may not get the idea that the 
teacher is lax or that that kind of work is not important and 
because of it grow indifferent to it, it is necessary that the 
marking of them be carried through and reported back as 
soon as possible to the pupil. Happy and fortunate is the 
teacher, therefore, who can reduce this kind of work that 
he cannot devise means to correct in the schoolroom, to a 
minimum without sacrificing the essential ends of the school 
processes. Both for his own best good and that of the 
school he should not be overtaxed by such kind of work. 
There is much virtue at times in having the pupils themselves 
correct their own exercises within the recitation period, each 
correcting the work of another and returning it, the teacher 
supervising closely and directing the whole. This, however, 
has its dangers and may at times lead to ill feeling between 
the students and sometimes to injustice, but a watchful 
teacher can readily detect all evil tendencies and check them 
before harm is done. Especially, if he never lets the work 



S34i Education in Theory and Practice 

get entirely away from him and looks over the work freely 
either while it is being done or afterwards. To its credit 
it might be said that this practice will tend to give the pupils 
an insight into the methods of the teacher and at the same 
time will tend to bring the facts of the lesson before the pupil 
in a new light, thereby serving to make the facts more easily 
retained by the pupil. 

About the drain of these routine duties outside of the 
school hours upon the teacher there is much to be said. 
While the keeping of grades is necessary for the proper esti- 
mation of the amount and quality of work each pupil does and 
figures more or less prominently in his promotion from one 
grade to another ; while the correcting of work at home is to 
some extent necessary for the successful and proper admin- 
istration of the system that regular reports be made to the 
principal, the superintendent and others in authority, in fact 
while it may be necessary for all of the little routine duties 
of the schoolroom to be done, it is equally necessary for the 
instructing work of the school and the discipline and punish- 
ment incident thereto that the burdens of the school work 
outside of school hours, upon the teacher be reduced to a 
minimum, and that minimum which must be done without fur- 
ther reduction should be facilitated in every way by the vari- 
ous mechanical devices available, in order that the teacher 
may have as much of an opportunity for study and prepara- 
tion of his daily work and the husbanding of his strength for 
that general good nature, poise, sympathy and high degree of 
scholarship both in the specific knowledge of the lesson and 
the broader field of fact so necessary for good discipline, 
good control and successful instruction. If it is true that 
without this drudgery work little eff'ective teaching is pos- 
sible, it is equally true that with it there is so fearful a drain 
on the energies of the teacher that even when the work is re- 
duced to a minimum by suclj available means as printed blank 
forms it still so taxes the teacher that his force as a factor in 
the schoolroom work is so weakened in time by them, until it is 
a question as to which should really be given precedence. 
Since the latter effects are not secondary for the schoolwork 
and primary for the health of the teacher and the proper 



Routine and Accessory Duties of the Teacher 235 

education of the pupil, it is unquestionably better that if 
either one is to suffer that this mechanical work suffer if to 
no greater extent than by a reduction in quantity. Unfor- 
tunately there are no statistics either upon the health or 
mortality among teachers, but certain it is that these facts 
are potent in affecting both the health and mortality of 
teachers. Apart from this, a fact that is even more im- 
portant to school authorities, the drudgery of schoolwork 
especially in this line of duties in conjunction with the matter 
of salary is the cause of making the profession of teaching 
only a stepping stone to other professions with a wholesale 
defection from it into them, a fact which is a source of great 
inconvenience and hindrance to the processes of education 
along all lines and in all grades of the work. 

II. ACCESSORY DUTIES 

Professional Courtesy Among Teachers. The subject of 
the accessory duties of the school has not received attention 
widely from the authors of textbooks on this subject. How- 
ever this field is growing and more likely will be considered 
of an ever grooving importance to the general success of the 
school. The subject of professional courtesy among teach- 
ers though it has always received much consideration both 
with tongue and pen, has seldom been considered a duty of 
the teacher, much less has it ever been considered in the light 
perhaps of an accessory duty of the teacher. Let it be said, 
however, that the spirit of professional courtesy among 
teachers is growing. But needless to say it will still stand 
considerable improvement. In medicine professional courtesy 
is at its height, among men of the professions. Lawyers 
also appear to maintain a high quality of professional 
courtesy among themselves. Members of the teaching pro- 
fession have not, it seems, arrived at the same high point of 
courteous consideration from their fellows, although it is a 
contemporary profession with law and medicine. This 
charge of lack of professional courtesy may be borne out in 
truth by fact, or it may be that simply because the teaching 
profession is a circumscribed restricted and much " bossed " 
profession the agents here not having the same freedom in 



236 Education in Theory and Practice 

action and method nor finality in judgment that the other 
sister professions have, the fact of lack of professional 
courtesy among them may be only a semblance brought out 
by this restriction under which they are employed and work, 
while at bottom law and medicine, as professions may suffer 
as much from the lack of professional courtesy as does teach- 
ing. Too it might be charged that the teaching profession 
is overcrowded and competition is resultingly closer. But, 
whatever the causes, much of the ill-repute that has fallen 
upon the profession and much of the weakness and foibles 
of the " professors " have been heaped upon it by members 
of the profession themselves. The teaching profession is 
often degraded by incompetent material and often " purged " 
of competent material by the small salary paid for the 
amount of preparation and work demanded by it. But it 
must ever remain true that teaching is one of the highest and 
noblest if not the highest and noblest of the professions 
known and open to men for practice. We often hear poet, 
press and public extol the sacredness of the teaching profes- 
sion, but few of us ever give to the matter consideration suf- 
ficiently serious to gain anything like the true appreciation of 
the real meaning of teaching to civilization and humanity. 
Teaching as carried on by the school of to-day is a highly 
developed method of systematized world progress. Without 
the processes of the school the world of tomorrow would be 
without material for its myriad activities and without compe- 
tent leadership in its many crises and critical periods. With 
poor or meager processes the material for advancing civiliza- 
tion becomes correspondingly poor and meager, and progress 
itself is endangered thereby. The responsibility resting upon 
the school is a serious one. The cause, therefore, which the 
school espouses is a lofty one. All the more merit attaches 
itself to the laborers because the work must be done with com- 
paratively slight pay. With the exception of preaching, 
teaching is the most poorly paid of all the professions. Agi- 
tation has done much to increase the salary of the teachers, 
but much still remains to be done. All of these drawbacks 
should serve to unite the school teachers more closely and 
make them more loyal one to another. As a profession teach- 



Routine and Accessory Duties of the Teacher 237 

ing will never come into its own until teachers show more 
courtes}^ and respect professionally one to another. The 
consciousness of a common but high calling, community of 
interest and labor together with a united and aggressive op- 
position always leading the attack and assailed on all sides, 
if the profession expects ever to attain its own, it must unite 
within its own ranks, develop professional faith and courtesy 
and meet the common enemy with a united front. For no 
profession is so constantly on the carpet for complaints and 
fault finding as school teacliing is. 

These words, however, must not be mistaken as a plea for 
" clannishness " among the teachers. This is not meant, nor 
is such even advisa.ble. This would bring upon them renewed 
opprobrium and not undeservedly. What is meant by this is 
a plea for teachers to ujDhold one another in their methods 
and honest, sincere practices, kindly forbearance one with 
another, fellowship at all times and encouragement. Nothing 
is so good but that it has a soul of badness in it ; nothing so 
bad but that it has a soul of goodness in it. Method by 
which one teacher succeeds will fail utterly in the hands of 
another and vice versa. Neither all of the good, all of 
human capacity for the performance of labor, nor all of the 
means with which to do, rests with a single individual or 
group of individuals. Considering these facts many a time 
a word of encouragement and support wisely spoken will be 
the cause of tiding a teacher over a serious difficult}'. Teach- 
ers should cultivate high motives and high standards each for 
himself and expect the same for others, always judging the 
acts of each other by this standard set up for self. If teach- 
ers show that they have little or no respect for each other's 
worth they have no reason to expect the general public to do 
otherwise. Unfair criticism here is ruinous and very little 
criticism even though it may be just is damaging, to all. 
Patrons and pupils are both quick to perceive any evidence 
of depreciation of one teacher by another and generally 
equally quick to turn such a state of affairs to advantage. 
Many a case of severe punishment and discipline has been 
made necessary in the school room by some word or outward 
sign of criticism or disapproval of one teacher by another 



238 Education in Tlieonj and Practice 

teacher in the presence of a pupil. While untold humilia- 
tion and even loss of position has fallen upon teachers 
through unkind and unfair criticism from their fellow work- 
ers. Principals suffer more personally from this lack of 
professional courtes}^ than the teachers do. It is distinctly 
human to feel that we can do something better than some one 
else, or that if another method which appealed to us, but not 
to the other fellow, had been followed, all would not only have 
been otherwise, but better. The point is, however much we 
may feel so, we should express it but little if ever and by all 
means it should be said nowhere, where it can possibly spread 
and in time affect the general influence of the individual for 
good. Teachers all owe it to themselves, to their fellow 
teachers, the pupils and the profession at large to cooperate 
loyally with those with whom they labor and at the same time 
to do all they can to improve the standard of the teaching 
profession. Miscellaneous criticism is bad at all times, but 
especially is it bad when it falls upon inexperienced or ma- 
licious ears, however well intending, honest or even deserving 
the criticism may have been. 

Professional Organizations Among Teachers. A great 
movement that has served to increase the professional spirit 
among teachers is the formation of various forms of teachers' 
organizations, such as the Teachers' Associations, Institutes 
and Reading Circles, etc. Through these communion and 
fellowship, exchange of views and experiences, hearing of lec- 
tures and receiving of special instruction all tend to increase 
professional ability, raise professional pride and establish 
among teachers a community of feeling and interests made 
possible in no other yv&.y. Teachers' associations are being 
organized everywhere in state, county and city throughout 
the country. Patrons and school officials are seeing the need 
of them and are appreciating the good they do to such an 
extent that they are not only approving of and encouraging 
them but they are making attendance upon and membership 
in tliem compulsory, even in some cases going so far as to pay 
for the extra attendance upon them or to withhold salary 
for the session when the teachers do not attend. In manv 
instances they also .appropriate money for securing compe=» 



Routine and Accessory Duties of the Teacher 239 

tent talent for proper instruction along various lines. Once 
in a while it is true sessions of these organizations descend 
to the level of mere political gatherings, where the struggle 
for office overshadows all else, but happily such sessions 
are the exceptions rather than the rule, thus not materially 
affecting the capacity of these organizations for good educa- 
tionally and otherwise both to the teacher and the profes- 
sion. 

Home Visiting hy the Teacher. The question of home vis- 
iting sometimes becomes a potent consideration with the 
school teacher. Many teachers have not much use for the 
method and we must confess that it does not always bring the 
results hoped for. At times it has even been known to make 
matters of discipline and work in the school more difficult 
than before. But even with that it is a practice commonly 
in vogue and has its good results. In the hands of a skillful 
teacher it has been known to help to tide over many a difficult 
situation. If it does not do anything else but give the teacher 
an insight into the home life and surrounding of the child and 
the nature and temperament of the parents, the instincts and 
tendencies which the child has inherited, thereby awakening 
in new channels the teacher's sympathy and widening his un- 
derstanding as well as showing just how much cooperation 
the teacher may expect from the parents in managing the 
child it has more than paid for itself. In doing this much it 
will have put the teacher well on the way toward a full mas- 
tery of the situation. Very often it is found out that brutal- 
ity exists in the home in which case kindness will probably 
bring a good side of the child to the front. Other parental 
peculiarities may be observed which may serve to throw some 
light on the nature and habits of the child. Very often, be- 
cause there is no opportunity for home study or encourage- 
ment of it, home work from the pupil when not done can be 
understood and handled so as to win the child to more suc- 
cessful efforts. Again when there is no sympathy with the 
school and the influence of the parent is exercised to disinter- 
est the child and have him stop school, counteracting forces 
can be set to work to win and hold him. If it is a matter of 
personal cleanliness a visit to the home will enable a tactful 



240 Education in Theory and Practice 

toucher to save the day with tlic pu])il. If the home influ- 
ences have j)ro(hic('(l any mental ])eculiaritie,s in tlie pupil 
that are hard to manage, or if heredity has wrought badly, 
in either case such knowledge can enable the teacher to read- 
just his judgments and try out his problem in a new way with 
more hope of success. To obtain this information would 
more than pay any teacher for a visit to the home of a i)ui)il. 
That there is a large possibility of good in the practice has 
always been known and recognized. For it is a practice that 
has to more or less extent always been advocated by experi- 
enced teachers, ])rlncipals, superintendents, school authori- 
ties and writers upon the subject. 

In visiting the homes of pupils there are still other good 
efl'ects that recommend the jjractice favorably to the minds 
of most earnest and well intending teachers. Oftentimes for 
example physical defects appear in the child that make 
against him and which it is evident the parent has never no- 
ticed. A visit in regard to them therefoi-e will often become 
necessary. Further it often becomes advisable to visit par- 
ents and learn of the peculiarities of pupils, especially where 
such marked peculiarities cannot be learned from other teach- 
ers. Well disposed |)are!its are often glad to note that teach- 
ers are sufTiciently interested in the welfare of their children 
to visit them, especially if the teacher comes to make a good 
report instead of a bad one. Family pride, a perennial 
reason for ])utting spurs to children in school work is often 
aroused in this M'ay. Then, too, the parent can " get to 
know " the teachers in this way, a fact that oftentimes proves 
to be a valuable asset in the teacher's behalf. It is never 
encouraging for parents to see a teacher only wIumi there is a 
complaint to be made. An introduction under such circum- 
stances is always an unfortunate one, if not indeed, a bad 
one. And even in cases where tliere are bad reports to be 
made the sting of it may be removed by showing at the same 
time what good there is in the ])upil and contrasting it with 
the bad, using the whole as an argument why the bad should 
be eliminated and why the parent should assist in bringing 
this about. A hopeful tone is always beneficial, esjiecially 
when accompanied by cheerfulness. Bad reports should not 



Routine and Accessor// Duties of the Teacher 241 

1)0 made loo often. I'\'vv parents are willin<^ to adinih Hiah 
tlicir child is wholly l)ad and hence incorri/rihle and to attempt 
to convince them of it is a difficult undertaking fraught with 
danfTcr for the welfare of the teacher. If the home visit docs 
not bring the di'sired results, the situation is uj) to the teacher 
and he must liandle it in his own wisdom and at discretion. 
Tlic teacher should always possess and show keen interest in 
his work and that of his i)upils and carry his enthusiasni into 
every home that he enters whether on a sad or a pleasant 
errand. '^I'his will not only hegi't l)oth confidence and sup- 
port in return hut will awaken in the members of the home a 
kindly reciprocal interest in the success of the teacher. This 
res])onsive attitude in the iiome will improve steadily, also, 
if the teacher can on such occasions be naturally i)ractical in 
his understanding of children and how to work with them. 
Plowever, this matter of home visiting and seeking opeidy aid 
froin the ])arent nuist not be carried too far. Parents pn'fer 
to feel that the teacher can manage the situation unaided by 
them. Such ])arents may regard such aj)peals as an evidence 
of w(>aki)ess on the part of tlu; teacher and become dissatis- 
fied |)atrons instead of satisfied ones. Also many parents do 
not wish to be annoyed by the teacher about their child or 
children and the school ])rocesses. These parents have sent 
their children to school to get rid of them and they wish that 
you keej) them and control and teadi them without annoying 
them with the problems that arise in this ])rocess. Where 
these suggestions are considered and acted upon home visit- 
ing will be found to have virtues that those who have never 
practiced it can never imagine. 

AronsifH) an Edncalional Spirit. V^-ry often teacliers go 
into a connnunity to teach school and find the school interest 
dead, enrollment small and habits of attendance bad. The 
cause of this upon investigation will be found out to be either 
lack of interest and financial su|)port by the school authori- 
ties, or by bad i)ractices either morally in administering the 
flifll'airs of the school f)y those preceding, or by cultivated 
indifference to education and echicational processes in the 
connnunity for the various fituuicial or social ends of certain 
individuals or groups of individuals. There are oftentimes 



243 Education in Theory and Practice 

accessory contributing causes which also require considera- 
tion. But, whatever be the causes these conditions when 
found existing, these require the immediate attention of the 
teacher, if he would succeed. If the fault appears to lie 
chiefly with the methods and indifference of the school au- 
thorities, there is the place to begin. Armed with the facts 
and the wishes of the patrons he can with ease tactfully ap- 
proach them, state his case and endeavor to win their support 
to helpful measures. Most school authorities will respond 
cheerfully with all of the means at their disposal and when this 
is exhausted, they will oftentimes lend their moral support to 
any effort to gain aid in other ways if they see that the 
teacher is competent, enthusiastic and practical and that he 
is really capable of doing good. 

If the fault lies with the patrons of the school, the place 
to begin is in the schoolroom. Strive first for better lessons, 
better attendance and greater interest. Impress the children 
with your ability and enthusiasm and let them advertise " the 
new teacher," the things he is doing and how he is doing 
them. When the children attending are won, follow this up 
by efforts on the outside. The parents are generally won 
with the children. But where not, visits among the influential 
laity and the seeking of their cooperation is advisable. Next 
the influence of the local ministry might with profit be so- 
licited and a united effort made to arouse the educational 
interest of the community. At appointed times special ser- 
mons in the churches could be preached having been pre- 
viously advertised and announced and every effort put forth 
to secure the presence of those elements of the community 
whom the movement is intended to reach and aflTect. The 
nature of these educational sermons may best be practical and 
of local concern. In addition to these, special work by the 
school pupils may be prepared for exhibition until there is a 
fitting amount on hand, of a quality to invite favorable com- 
ment and impression, Avhereupon at an entertainment given 
by the pupils of the school or during a regular session it 
might all be put on exhibition with much benefit to the school, 
serving to arouse the desired interest in the school and its 
work. The good effect of this kind of work on a community 



Routme and Accessory Duties of the Teacher 243 

if successfully and creditably carried out can hardly be esti- 
mated. Much of the apathy and indifference of a community 
toward a school and its work is due to previous bad methods, 
bad management, inefficiency and consequent bad results, 
until the patrons have grown discouraged and felt perhaps 
that not only were most teachers bad or of no account, but 
that school itself was a useless luxury, that a community 
was just as well off without as with, and where their children 
did attend the sooner they were through it and through with 
it the better. The kind of method suggested above will serve 
materially to change this view for the better and the teacher 
will soon see that a new hope has been awakened in the 
patrons and a new interest created in the work of the school. 
This can be made the basis of gaining a larger attendance and 
of doing better work with much more ease in maintaining dis- 
cipline and order. Many children who had abandoned school 
as something undesirable will be found returning and the 
teacher will see that he is doing effective work and has the 
sympathy and cooperation of the entire community, both 
patrons and school authorities. Of course, a large attend- 
ance does not make a good school, neither does it tend always 
to increase the working efficiency of the school, nor is it in- 
tended to convey that impression here. It is a fact, how- 
ever, that all other things being equal, the larger the attend- 
ance upon a school, the greater is its power for good and 
the further does its influence extend. 

In many counties in the various states throughout the 
country the funds obtainable for school purposes are not 
sufficient to run the school more than from three to six 
months. That this term is too short to be of any material 
good to the community is obvious. Where the movements 
suggested above have been instituted with success and the 
patrons and authorities see that the school is doing good 
they are generally willing to make individual contributions to 
extend the work. Cases are on record where by community 
rallies school terms have been raised from the minimum to 
six, eight or even nine months, all under the competent lead- 
ership of the teacher and through the faith which the teacher 
has created in others by the success of his methods, his gen- 



244 Education in Theory and Practice 

eral ability and liis enthusiasm. To be sure such work 
ought not to fall on the teacher, but if conditions demand it 
and the need is upon the community, who more interested and 
who more competent than the teacher should be, can be ex- 
pected to do it? If the teacher aims to render real and 
efficient service in a community he must do what his hands 
find to do and aim to do that well. 

Neighborhood Meetings. A popular method of drawing 
the school nearer to the patron, carrying the patron nearer 
to the school and arousing in the patron greater interest in 
school work and its success is b}^ means of periodically hold- 
ing neighborhood meetings and community conferences. 
These have been particularly useful in the South where edu- 
cational interest is at what we might say below par. In 
these neighborhood meetings and conferences questions of 
general community interests come up and methods of solving 
them are devised. In some of them instructions in specific 
methods of various kinds of work are offered, the audience 
being instructed in something of practical use in the home, 
school and daily w^alks of life. These meetings may and gen- 
erally do take various forms to obtain certain ends locally 
desired. When they take the form of mothers' meetings they 
are of particular value to the school, as the mothers of any 
community are most closely connected with the problems of 
the school and can most readily and capably contribute to 
their solution. Many of the serious problems of the school 
arise among the indigent poor of the community. An avenue 
of approach to them could be found by the school if it could 
come in the form of charity that would supply to tliose in 
need the means of satisfying the immediate physical demands 
of the body for food, shelter, heat, etc. After this the influ- 
ence of the school could be extended and the children of such 
families brought into the school. This done, thereafter, 
when in need, the things necessary for life, health and school 
attendance could to a great extent be supplied through this 
source. Many a time the hardheartedness of the world 
toward the unfortunate and its indifference to their suffering 
is the cause of the presence of criminality and criminal tend- 
ency among the poor. If society would reach out its arms to 



Routine and Accessory Duties of the Teacher 245 

the children in such cases, extend them charity and help and 
provide means of getting them into school and keeping them 
there, the crimes among the children of the poor would be 
greatly lessened. The school teacher if not actively a par- 
ticipant in these meetings and conferences should ally himself 
with them and keep them in touch with the needs and de- 
mands of this class of pupils and invite their help and co- 
operation in creating the means for them, whereby they can 
come within the sphere of influence of the school. There 
are also other problems of the school which these kinds of 
meetings could assist in solving. They can do much to have 
the salaries of the teachers raised, improve the school build- 
ing, the school grounds, enlarge and improve the school 
equipment, extend the school term, increase the attendance, 
raise the curriculum and contribute in a general way to the 
extension of the influence of the school for good, and con- 
tribute materially to the solution of its varied and complex 
problems. 

The Teacher's Value to the Community. From the above 
it is evident that the teacher who wishes will find a broad 
field of activity for the use of his capacities and energies. 
In the light of this, the teacher who can allow his school 
duties to begin with the opening exercises of the school day 
and to end with the closing hours of school in the afternoon 
is doing but little of the great work before him to earn his 
pay, however small it may be. That teacher whose sphere of 
influence is restricted within the four walls of the school house 
is a factor so insignificant in the affairs of men that he is 
more a burden to society than a benefit to it. The true 
teacher constitutes the leavening in the community that 
" leaveneth the whole." By his moral force, strength of char- 
acter and model of conduct he should raise the community 
standards. Once he has worked himself well into the forward 
movements of the community, the standing thus gained may 
with ease be turned into a force to raise the standard of the 
school and intensify its power for good by instilling into the 
pupil a strong desire for higher things, higher and nobler 
ideals, of men and measures. Where, however, his work is of 
such nature or proportion that he cannot take the initiative 



246 Education in Theory and Practice 

in movements for community advancement he should consider 
it his duty to cooperate and work with others in all such 
movements and to give to all forms of social gatherings, civic 
meetings and general movements for social uplift, his spare 
time and surplus energies. Besides the consciousness there- 
from of doing good in a community and therefore having its 
love, confidence and respect, liis efforts will react upon the 
school enrollment, attendance and good conduct on the part 
of the pupils that will make the work of the school teacher 
much more pleasurable and which will raise materially the 
working efficiency of the school. It must not be expected 
that all of these numerous activities and interests of the 
teacher will be received by the community necessarily without 
opposition on the part of many. This will hardly be the 
case. Besides being wedded to old ways and habits of living 
and thinking from which they turn but slowly, many people 
look askance upon new-comers, especially if they are active 
and aggressive and seem to have an abundance of new ideas. 
Other spirits will antagonize him and his movements for mere 
personal reasons. Others still, will contend that he has 
enough to do to keep him busy in the school room, arguing 
that if he does that well he will have rendered the desired 
service to the community. The opposition may even carry 
their case to the school authorities. But this extreme will be 
rare. Despite any opposition of this kind, however, the 
teacher must push his movements forward in the interest of 
the community, securing himself at all times by keeping the 
work of the school on a high plane and allowing none of it to 
suffer by these outside activities. Opposition marks the 
path of all progress. To overcome it and still achieve is the 
effort of a truly great soul. 

In his regular routine duties the teacher already has much 
to do. Indeed he often has too much to do. To add to these 
such accessory duties as are here outlined is to heap Ossa on 
Pelion. Again in many cases these movements may not meet 
with success, at least they may not meet with such success as 
was anticipated. It still remains true, however, that where 
these things can be and arc done by the teacher, the school 
flourishes and humanity is benefited by his having been in the 



Routine and Accessory Duties of the Teacher 247 

world. Men afraid of opposition and criticism never turn 
the world upside down by their " doughty deeds." Nor do 
those who are afraid to work and extend their energies and 
those who do not even risk their health for the uplift of their 
fellows ever amount to much in the world or make the world 
better by their having been in it. Men of the first type need 
to learn that it is only just adverse criticism that hurts or 
will perhaps undo one. Those of the second will do well to 
learn that " it is better to wear out than to rust out." The 
world is little in need of any individuals either of the first or 
second type. Power-capacity and energy-supply are meas- 
sured by work, action and work. World progress and hu- 
man uplift are accomplished only by the severest forms of 
work, 

REFERENCE READING 

King's " Education for Efficiency." Chap. VI. 

Arnold's " School and Class Management." Chap. IV, Sect. 4. 

Perry's " Management of a City School." Chaps. Ill, V. 

Colgrove's " The Teacher and the School." Chaps. V, X. 

Dlnsmore's " Teaching a Country School." Chap. II. 

Pichard's " School Supervision." Chaps. X, XI. 

Johonnot's " Principles and Practice of Teaching." Chap. XV. 



CHAPTER XI 

INSTRUMENTS OF PROGRESS IN THE 
SCHOOLROOM 

The Courses of Study and the Daily Program 

I. Courses of Study, There are two factors above all 
others which have been found to facilitate the work in the 
schoolroom and to promote definiteness of progress in the 
educational processes. These are the courses of study and 
the daily program. So important has the question of 
courses of study been found to be that experience has taught 
that such matters cannot safely be entrusted entirely to the 
discretionary knowledge of the various teachers. As a re- 
sult when teachers begin their work in the school they find 
their courses of study definitely outlined for them. When 
the teacher enters his schoolroom to begin the work of the 
year, there must always be something definite for him to do. 
He must know first of all just what he is to do, where he is 
to begin and how he is to proceed in order to get it done. 
The course of study is provided for this purpose. Lack of 
experience in teaching and lack of knowledge of the relative 
value of school processes, one or both, may contribute to pro- 
duce the condition and the causes why so few teachers can 
be trusted to make out a proper course of study for any 
given grade or grades that they are to teach. Besides that 
a graded school to be successful must be well articulated; the 
work of each grade must represent a distinct part of the 
whole course and each part of it must fit into and coordinate 
with the whole. Furthermore, the work of the common 
school must fit into that of the high school, that of the high 
school into that of the college, and that of the college into 
that of the university, while each teacher must know what 
progress has been made by the teacher in the grades below 

248 



Instruments of Progress in the Schoolroom 249 

her and she in her turn must know what is expected of her 
by the teacher or teachers in the grades above her. In 
schools where departmental work is carried on, the demand 
for a course of study becomes even more imperative. 

Another problem that makes it necessary that there be a 
standard course of study not subject to individual whims is 
the question of promotion and transfer of students from one 
building to another or from one locality to another within the 
state and county or without their bounds. Whenever living 
circumstances make it necessary for a child's parents to move 
into a new community and put the child into school there, 
justice and a high degree of efficiency in the grading and the 
work of the school demand that the schools of the general 
system be so articulated in their courses of study that the 
work of the grade in the new community and that in the for- 
mer community have sufficient in common to enable the child 
to enter the new school without serious handicap to his 
work or without loss of standing in the grade in which he was 
before moving to the new locality. The only way in which 
this end can be properly conserved is by there being a com- 
mon course of study followed in general by all, so that all 
of the grades of the same class in the system may be doing 
practically the same kind of work as well as be making 
practically the same progress in that work during a stated 
period. Because of the independence of action by various 
city, county and state superintendents of education, a trait 
which will probably always characterize our educational 
work, because of our national ideal of personal liberty and 
freedom of individual action, the results along this line are 
not as uniform as would perhaps be desirable for this end. 
But it is progressing in this direction and in time will no 
doubt be much nearer perfection. Another fact in this con- 
nection is that the normal equilibrium in such matters is con- 
siderably disturbed by the agitation and reaction against the 
rote and groove as well as archaic education, brought to us 
from classical times. This reaction has introduced us into a 
period of transition from the form and rote education of the 
past to the substance and thought education of the present 
which when we have finished the transition will probably 



250 Education in Theory and Practice 

bring us again to a uniform and generally well articulated 
system. Imagine though, apart from the above, what a fear- 
ful lack of uniformity and system there would be if each 
teacher were allowed to use his individual judgment or per- 
haps better lack of judgment in such matters. It matters 
not, though, how uniform the course, or how well theoret- 
ically the work of the grades may articulate the one into the 
other, there will always be local conditions peculiar to each 
community, such as length of school term, number of teach- 
ers and their competency, together with the general health 
of the community and the various accidents incidental to all 
school administration, which will enter from time to time to 
throw the system out of gear and thereby by putting one be- 
hind the other break the uniformity so desirable and indeed so 
necessary. 

The Justification of Courses of Study. Through many 
years of experimental work extending from the Grecian 
period down to to-day, the question of courses of study in 
the school has received attention and constantly undergone 
changes until to-day through knowledge gained through this 
experience and observation there is a very definite reason 
for the place assigned each subject in the course and the 
determination of the amount of time which it is to receive 
under various conditions of teaching facilities and the gen- 
eral purpose of education as judged by the educational ideals 
and standards of various countries, states, and cities and 
rural communities. It is obvious that the kind of political 
institutions in a country will determine the subjects to be 
taught in the schools of that country as well as the relative 
amount of time each is to have in the course. The course of 
study will vary if only in its minor details ; that for a 
mining section differing from that of an agricultural section, 
while that for a commercial center will vary from that for a 
manufacturing center, and so on. The same will be true 
of the course of study prepared for the privileged and leisure 
classes in contradistinction from those for the masses. In 
republics no form of education for the leisure or privileged 
classes in particular is supported by the state. This, of 
course, does not refer to institutions for technical or profes- 



Instruments of Progress in the Schoolroom 251 

sional education. These forms of education are offered quite 
generally in state schools. 

Historical Development of Courses of Study. From our 
earliest historical knowledge of educational processes and 
schools we find that the matter of the course of study was 
quite definitely outlined and followed, whether the system 
was under the control of the church and ecclesiastical institu- 
tions or under the control of the state and the dominant 
political institutions. The age periods for primary educa- 
tion varied in different countries from five to eight years, 
but began in most countries at from six to seven. Interme- 
diate education extended from the twelfth or fourteenth to 
the eighteenth or twentieth 3'ear, while the " higher educa- 
tion " began at about the age of twenty and on even as far 
as up to the thirty-fifth year. Courses of study in these 
three educational groups have been decidedly uniform. 
China, India, Judea and Egypt all had as the course of study 
in their primary educational work, reading, writing and 
arithmetic. Persia paid but little attention to any of these 
except among the leisure class. To these three subjects 
training in ceremonial institutions (of the priesthood) and 
moral customs, Judea increased her course of study to include 
music (both vocal and instrumental) and added thereto ele- 
mentary work in the industrial and mechanical arts. 

The intermediate and advanced courses of study have re- 
mained very uniform and everywhere covered the entire field 
of knowledge, though only in the past century or so, because 
the activity to obtain a living took all of the time of men, 
did intermediate and higher education become accessible to 
others than the socially privileged, the ruling classes and 
those select few who enjoyed special political, professional, 
and ecclesiastical opportunities and maintained themselves 
in it by rigid caste rulings and regulations and a strong 
spirit of clannishness. Sparta's literary education was but 
little other than primary, her state ideal being to make war- 
riors out of her citizens. Pythagoras, a prominent exponent 
of the Spartan ideal in his school, offered in the primary 
course of study, reading and writing, to which, a little later 
in that course, were added arithmetic. Still later appeared 



252 Education in Theory and Practice 

grammar, literature, geography and music, finally astron- 
omy and mathematics being brought in. Aristotle advanced 
this course of study to include poetry, rhetoric, drawing and 
philosophy, with all of its known branches. In the Christian 
period immediately following, the training in the elementary 
branches included reading, writing and sometimes arithmetic, 
but still in the primary grade Latin and Greek were added, 
the full course including reading, writing, arithmetic, gram- 
mar, music, rhetoric, mathematics and philosophy. 

Luther found out that the chief obstruction to the success- 
ful propagation of his ideas was general ignorance among 
the masses of the people. To overcome this he put forth 
the proposition that the state had the right to enforce com- 
pulsory education. Finding that the course of study then 
in use in the school was not of the kind to make the spread of 
his views and the influence of his work sufficiently efficient he 
proposed a new course of study which he himself had devised 
as a substitute for the prosaic one inherited from the classi- 
cal times. It was composed of reading, writing, arithmetic, 
mathematics, bible, catechism, Latin, Greek, logic, rhetoric, 
history, natural science, music and gymnastics. In this 
course of study as proposed by Luther and introduced by him 
we notice several signs of the times and some advancement of 
human knowledge. The presence of " Bible study " and 
" Catechism study " is to be explained by the fact that Eu- 
rope and especially Germany was in the throes of a fearful 
struggle for religious freedom. Natural science which we 
know now under the name of " nature study " was present in 
the course probably because of the new spirit for scientific 
methods and investigation that constituted a reaction against 
the atrophied and unproductive forms of studies at the head 
of which reactionary movement stood such men as Bacon. 
IMusic was there probably through its relation to the religious 
feeling and worship as it was in the Judean course of study, 
while the presence of gymnastics is probably a relic of the 
Spartan system and the practical need that was felt in the 
terrible degradation which the body had undergone by the 
asceticism of the church, which taught that the body pol- 
luted the spirit and construed religion to be bodily chastise- 



Instruments of Progress in the Schoolroom 253 

ment, privation and abnegation. History which had been 
notable for its absence from the previous lower courses was 
introduced by Luther to aid in his fight within the church 
and as first taught was almost entirely church history. 
Throughout, however, the course is markedly advanced. In 
the primary grades besides instruction in religion and morals 
there were taught music, reading, writing, arithmetic, bible, 
catechism, natural science and gymnastics. Latin was be- 
gun in the second year and Greek in the third year of the 
primary grade. This was quite a formidable course of study, 
especially when it is remembered that the method of learning 
them was by rote. Under such a regime the work must have 
been straining despite the presence of gymnastics to break the 
long tedious strain. 

About this same time (1550) Sturm became head of the 
Gymnasium at Strassburg and introduced a course of study 
there that became a model for all of the more important 
schools of Europe for the next two hundred and fifty years 
and which is to-day still followed by many countries, par- 
ticularly Germany, in their upper primary and throughout 
the secondary schools. His course of study was a Latin 
course of study. That is, Latin was made the basic subject 
with the right to alternate with it or substitute Greek for it in 
the higher grades. It ignored the mother tongue almost en- 
tirely, not only not teaching it, but also not allowing its use 
except in the explanation required by the difficulties of the 
text. Pupils were not even allowed to converse in the mother 
tongue on the way to and from the school. The first year 
course with Sturm consisted in the learning of the alphabet, 
reading and writing, and the learning of Latin declensions 
and conjugations with instruction in either the German 
or Latin catechism. All of the succeeding years of the 
course were marked only by an advance in the Latin in- 
struction. 

The English poet John Milton made the first decided step 
toward nationalism in courses of study. His efforts were 
bent toward the adoption of courses of study to the capacities 
of the pupils ; an evident reaction against the course of 
study of Sturm. He decried strongly the method then in 



254 Education in Theory and Practice 

vogue of compelling students " to spend seven or eight years 
merely in scraping together so much miserable Latin and 
Greek as might be learned otherwise later, easily and delight- 
fully in one year." He considered it a great fault of the 
system " to require verses and orations of immature stu- 
dents and to introduce them suddenly to the abstractions of 
logic and metaphysics." 

Following IMilton, Herbart made another determined effort 
to place the then used course of study on a rational basis. 
His labors were spent in an effort to determine the order of 
subjects by their " progressive and logical connection," to 
arrange the course of study to correspond to the progressive 
unfolding of the mind. Let the subjects of tlie course grow 
in complexity as the child's mind grows in power to compre- 
hend, and education will be easy, because natural, was his 
argument. He based his system upon mathematics for which 
course he provided a lengthy philosophical exposition by way 
of justification of it. Both Herbart and Herbert Spencer 
were markedly influenced in their writings by the reaction 
against the prosaic and theoretical education of the schools 
of their time which were run chiefly under the dominance of 
religious bodies and their religious zeal, which during those 
times were the paramount feelings controlling human action. 
Too, they were both materially influenced by the reactionary 
methods of the French Renaissance whose school principles 
were Avidely heralded. Spencer's efforts were bent in the 
direction both of the order of arrangement of subjects, their 
prominence in the course and the amount of time they should 
receive in the schoolroom. Spencer would determine his 
course of study upon the relative value of studies in the living 
activities of a people and used as his basic principle that of 
" what knowledge is of most worth." This in turn was deter- 
mined by one's standard of living. While this proposition 
of Spencer's was perhaps indefinite it was undoubtedly in- 
tended to break up the petrified customs of making courses of 
study according to the theories of a dead past and was in- 
tended to make the new courses of study thoroughly practical 
and utilitarian. Since the school cannot teach all branches 
of knowledge and since no one person can learn all that the 



Instruments of Progress m the Schoolroom 255 

school teaches it is imperative to know what is the relative 
value of the various branches of knowledge which the school 
attempts to teach. Spencer outlines the kinds of activities 
in life for which the school is supposed to prepare one on the 
basis of their contribution to the self maintenance of that 
individual. With this as a guide he formed his course of 
study. On a similar plane with Herbart he held that the 
course of study should correspond with the unfolding of the 
mind. The course of study according to him should proceed 
" from the simple to the complex, from the concrete to the ab- 
stract, from the empirical to the philosophical." It should 
carry the child in education through the same periods as 
those through which the race passed in its historical develop- 
ment. That is, the course of study should first of all be com- 
posed of those subjects, a knowledge of which will enable him 
properly to meet directly the problems of self-preservation. 
Next it should contain those subjects a knowledge of which 
will enable him (the pupil) properly to meet those problems 
which affect his access to the necessities of life and that there- 
fore indirectly affect self-preservation. These subjects must 
be imbodied in all courses of study and these courses of study 
should be placed within the reach of all, because to all living 
beings are due the opportunities for obtaining (earning) a 
livelihood. When these problems are successfully met in 
society by its various individual members, then the courses of 
study may be extended to include those subjects which pro- 
vide a knowledge for the rearing and disciplining of offspring. 
This accomplished the course of study may include those sub- 
jects which provide knowledge that will enable the mainte- 
nance of proper knowledge, that will enable the maintenance 
of proper social and political relations of the state. Finally, 
according to this scheme of Spencer's the course of study 
may include those subjects which enable the exercise of 
the finer miscellaneous activities which make up the leisure 
part of life, that part which is generally devoted to the grat- 
ification of the tastes and feelings, especially the feelings of 
the esthetic sense. As the child becomes secure in the posses- 
sion of a knowledge of these various activities, he can advance 
in the courses of study until he has access to all that the 



256 Education in Theory and Practice 

school offers. Courses of study which administer to the 
means of self presei*vation both directly and indirectly are 
first and generally provided. Other more extended courses 
later as the demands on the child rise beyond this level. 

Unlike Herbart, Spencer makes science the basis of his 
course of study. To him the study of science was the road 
to human happiness ; it ministers successfully to all human 
ills. Latin and Greek with him fall from their high position 
of honor and prominence in school courses of study on which 
they had been for so long a time enthroned, as do bible study 
and the study of the catechism. The humanities also lose 
their position of eminence. The old course of study was 
outlined for the rich and leisure class ; it was impractical and 
non-utilitarian. In their stead Spencer would substitute a 
course of study admirably adapted to the needs of the 
masses. For this purpose he offered a course that was 
practical and highly utilitarian. The cultivation of the 
esthetic tastes and feelings is a privilege accorded only the 
rich and leisure class. But inasmuch as the leisure class 
does not constitute the main body upon which civilization 
rests, so ought not the education which is only for them 
make up the chief part of the current course of study. In 
this connection Spencer's stress upon physical education is 
also worthy of notice. He sounds a timely note of warning 
in this regard which has been and is being well heeded in 
our more modern courses of study. 

To-day the courses of study in Germany as prescribed 
for the primary grades of the public schools intended for 
the use of the whole population (I refer here to the so-called 
" Volkschulcn ") consists of instruction in the catechism 
and bible history (chiefly anecdotes and biogray)hies), read- 
ing, writing, arithmetic, geography, natural history, singing 
and gymnastics. The lower primary grades offer as their 
course of study : Catechism and bible history, reading, 
writing and arithmetic (numbers), natural history (nature 
study), singing and gymnastics. The courses of study in 
France for the primary grades call for instruction in moral 
and civic duties, reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, lit- 
erature, history, geography, natural science, designing. 



Instruments of Progress m the ScJioolroom 257 

modeling, music, gymnastics, military for the boys and 
needle work for the girls. 

From these facts, not only is it evident that the problem 
of courses of study is an old one, and that the present one 
has been reached after long years of experience and experi- 
mentation. But it is also clear that the courses of study 
are pretty uniform throughout all of the enlightened and 
advanced civilized countries. It is also a fact that they are 
instruments of such importance in the outcome of educational 
processes, that they cannot be safely entrusted to the whims 
of either ignorant or capricious persons or those given too 
much to fads in matters of education. After such a long 
period of trial it is safe to conclude in this matter of courses 
of study that each subject of the course has come to have its 
position in the course because of some specific demand in 
the life of the child which it is to supply and, because of 
this, that it cannot be dispensed with without impairing the 
child as a finished educational product. With the general 
pui*pose of education clearly defined and the kind of educa- 
tion that is most worth, the relative value of the subjects is 
readily found and where there must be a process of elimina- 
tion invoked, the local or practical grounds may without 
serious harm enter and be plied as a shearer's blade to cut 
out those of less practical value. The question of self- 
preservation and self-maintenance must and will always be 
paramount until the race advances to the point where thei'e 
is abundant material goods well distributed throughout the 
masses. During this time the local and national ideals and 
needs will control the nature of the courses of study. Once 
the questions of self-preservation and self-maintenance are 
removed fi'om the immediate consideration then the courses 
of study may flower out into such forms as will cater most 
full}' to the higher and more nearly theoretical ideals of the 
more capricious and fastidious rich and leisure class. 

Courses of Study in America. America has not advanced 
in these matters perhaps quite as far as the countries of 
Europe, though since she has started along this line she has 
proceeded more rapidly than they have. Fifty years ago 
our courses of study consisted in the rural districts chiefly 



258 Education in Theory and Practice 

of reading, writing and arithmetic with some language (gram- 
mar) work and some geography (more nature study). The 
freedom of activity which is part of our national ideals has 
allowed those in authority to proceed according to their owa 
wishes and as a result the courses of study as they have 
grown have become overcrowded with many unrelated sub- 
jects arranged in no definite order. The result is that in 
such cases the knowledge gotten, if such it may be called is 
disconnected and of little worth, the energy of the pupil 
being uselessly dissipated by being stretched over too large 
an area of subjects and subject matter. While it is true 
that the tendency in America is toward intension in educa- 
tional processes, more than toward extension in them, which 
may be partly the cause of the status of tilings educational 
with us so far as courses of study are concerned, yet it is 
a fact that studies need to be more concentrated. Where, 
because certain groups of subjects extend in parallel lines, 
concentration is impossible, the condition might be remedied 
to some extent at least by an appropriate combination of 
coordination and correlation. Herbart and Spencer, espe- 
cially the former, both advocated courses of study based 
upon the principle of concentration aided by correlation and 
coordination. The earlier courses of study, as may have 
been observed, were based purely on the principle of corre- 
lation and coordination. The humanities (history, litera- 
ture, etc.), the sciences both physical and biological (includ- 
ing the physiological) and the mathematical subjects con- 
stitute the correlated courses of study generally offered 
coordinately. These are usually everywhere introduced by 
the less coordinated and correlated subjects known as formal 
subjects, of which the chief are reading, writing, arithmetic 
(number work), nature study, grammar (language work), 
drawing and modeling. Primary knowledge, therefore, is 
formal knowledge and is necessary before any other form of 
knowledge is possible. A primary course of study because 
it is basic and primary is now and has always been practically 
the same in all countries. It is in the upper primary, inter- 
mediate, grammar and high school courses of study that this 
problem peculiar to America presents itself. Besides being 



Instruments of Progress in the Schoolroom 259 

reduced to a system of concentration, correlation and co- 
ordination the lower subjects should follow the psycho- 
logical order (the Herbartian and Spencerian doctrine) 
while the higher subjects should follow the logical order. 
In the advanced graded work of the city schools the course 
of study is at its best and as such is on an average equal 
to that of the most advanced cities of the advanced countries 
of Europe. In the rural districts, however, our courses of 
study are behind those of the schools of such countries as 
are included in the preceding reference. However, lack of 
uniformity in courses of study is in a Avay evident everywhere 
both in this country and in Europe. In the French system 
of schools the courses of study are perhaps the best and most 
uniform known. These courses of study are strictly pre- 
scribed by the ministers of public instruction and rigid ad- 
herence to them is enforced by the department throughout 
the state by means of a very extensive system of deputies. 

Experience has fully taught the need of having courses of 
study articulate well by grades and years. With this con- 
dition and those above fulfilled the teacher is relieved of 
much responsibilit}^ in things that while they are vital, they 
are cut and dried for him. All that is required of him is 
that he bend his energies in teaching the course of study that 
is outlined for him. A prepared course of study will insure 
in the first place that the end of education as broadened by 
the experience of centuries will be achieved with some degree 
of definiteness and certainly that the work through the 
progressive steps will be harmonious and the efforts spent not 
lost by useless repetition, nor its effects spoiled by discon- 
nection. It will provide that the work undertaken will pro- 
ceed in harmony with the natural unfolding of the mind and 
be so uniform as to reduce the inconvenience and loss of 
time incidental to the transfer from locality to locality and 
state to state to a minimum. 

II. The Daily Program. The next instrument of progress 
in the schoolroom tliat is of vital concern for the teacher 
is the daily program. Unlike the question of the course 
of study it is not so definitely determined by custom nor are 
the scientific regulations governing it as minute as those 



260 Education in Theory and Practice 

controlling the course of study. In its variation it is sus- 
ceptible to local conditions, due in part to the nature of the 
program itself and in part to the fact that the teacher is 
not only allowed to make out his own daily program to suit 
his own convenience and the accommodations of his own 
room, but in most cases is required to do so. In this, one 
of the chief problems of the schoolroom is that of time. 
Ever3^thing must de done, done well and done in the least 
possible time that the results will justify. In other words 
the daily program aims to secure a maximum amount of 
school work with a minimum expenditure of energy and time. 
The amount of time available for the schoolroom processes 
is determined first of all by the length of the school term, 
while the length of the school year is determined in tuni in 
most cases b}' legislative enactment. These aim, however, 
only at general restrictions and regulations within which 
limitations the local boards and county superintendents make 
rules to suit the immediate conditions of the schools and 
the various means on hand to maintain them. 

In tiie Northeast, West, and the better schools of the South 
the school year ranges in length from thirty to forty weeks 
with a standing average between thirty-five and thirty-six 
weeks. In the rural sections of the North, East, West and 
especially of the South the year is generally shorter. In 
many of the counties and districts of the southern states, 
the school year either by lack of funds, or because of the 
rules and regulations of local authorities or both, is often 
restricted to as short a time as three calender months. 
Where not bound by other restrictions, the question of funds 
for longer maintenance of the school year is generally locally 
met by the patrons and the school year extended in this way. 
In some sections mostly agricultural, for the sake of making 
and harvesting the crops the school year already short is 
cut into two sections, one during the cold months between 
harvest time and the time of sowing, when agricultural pur- 
suits are impossible, and the other in the hot months of 
the summer when the crops are planted and " laid by " and 
the laborers resting, waiting for the crops " to make." 
Both of these conditions materially affect the work of the 



Instru/ments of Progress in the Schoolroom 261 

school and react upon the school course as well as upon the 
daily program affecting both materially for the worse. 

While the tendency in America is toward a longer school 
year and there is constant agitation leading to improvement 
in this line, the school year in America as it is in practice 
in our larger cities of the North and limited to few vacations 
is far in advance of that of the most advanced countries of 
Europe such as Genuany, France and England. 

The School Day. While the course of study is more 
directly affected by the length of the school year than the 
daily program, the daily program is determined chiefly by 
the course of study both as to the number of subjects which 
can be taught in the course of study, the order in which 
those subjects shall come in the school day and the amount 
of time which shall be given to each. It is customary in 
America to divide the school day in the public schools into 
two sessions, the one, the morning session runs from nine 
o'clock in the morning until twelve o'clock noon, and the 
other, the afternoon session running from two o'clock in 
the afternoon until four. In some of the rural schools the 
other inconveniences of the school are offset by extending 
the afternoon session from one o'clock until four. In many 
city high schools the session runs from nine o'clock in the 
morning to two or two-thirty with an intermission at the 
noon hour of from twenty minutes to a half hour. Many 
of the schools of the larger cities such as Baltimore, Phila- 
delphia and Washington hold what is known as half-day 
sessions running from nine to twelve in the morning. At 
noon the pupils of the morning session are dismissed and a 
new set of pupils come to the afternoon session which begins 
at one o'clock and continues until four o'clock. In many 
colleges and universities the school work begins as early as 
eight o'clock or even seven o'clock and extends continuously 
throughout the day until five or even six o'clock in the 
evening, wliile a few cases are on record where recitations 
in them run until seven, eight, or even nine o'clock. In 
European countries the school day as a whole is generally 
longer than in America. In Germany for example a full 
day in the public schools is usually seven hours long, while 



262 Education in Theory and Practice 

in France it is sometimes seven hours long but more generally 
onl}^ six hours as in America. In England it sometimes is 
seven hours and in some sections six hours long. Both in 
Europe and America for various reasons justified by the 
nature of the case, first and second year primary pupils 
are generally dismissed from one-half hour to one hour 
earlier than the pupils of the higher grades, both in the 
morning and in the afternoon sessions, also giving to tliem 
longer and sometimes more frequent recess periods than are 
given to the higher grades thus cutting their day to five 
or even four full hours in a school day. This early dis- 
missal is justified first by the fact that the younger children 
suffer more mentally under confinement and restraint than 
the older ones and need for health, more opportunity for 
exercise in the open air to promote healthy and vigorous 
growth so necessary for the future well-being of the child 
physically, mentally and morally. The work of the pri- 
mary grades is also light and of small amount and there 
is not such a noticeable demand in them for time. With 
the higher grades where there is such an extended course 
of study that the time devoted to each subject must be care- 
fully determined beforehand and strictly adhered to during 
the day in order that all of the work of the day may be 
properly done with neglect of none of it, the economic use of 
time is imperative. Here school must be held to the last 
minute and recesses, intermissions and other exercises of a 
general nature must be reduced to extend over a minimum 
amount of time. 

Recess in the morning is generally fifteen minutes for the 
higher classes and that in the afternoon is ten minutes. 
Oftentimes that of the lower classes is longer and they 
sometimes have more recess periods than are given to the 
upper grades. In the upper grades the sixth, seventh and 
eighth the great demand for time has often made those 
who feel only the pressure brought to bear upon them to get 
over a certain amount of work satisfactorily, advocate the 
removal of the afternoon recess entirely and the reduction of 
the morning recess to ten minutes. In many schools this 
is done. But the reactionary pedagogy with physiology 



Instruments of Progress in the Schoolroom 263 

and hygiene at its back is agitating not only for the longer 
recess in the morning and the restoration of the afternoon 
recess, but is proposing a rational method which would have 
the teacher study the needs of the pupil and give him the 
right to take whatever steps he finds necessary to revive and 
reinvigorate the school so as to bring the work up to a 
proper standard of efficiency and bring about a true economy 
of time. Sometimes the situation may require only a few 
gymnastics in the midst of plenty of fresh air. Then again 
it may require a brief recess period. It is a fact that when 
there is too much lethargy present in the body of students 
it is better to remove this lethargy at any cost in loss of 
time, rather than to hold school and drag on through the 
day's work. Such work would in results obtained be 
practically wasted. While the freedom to so control a situa- 
tion arising in the school work may at times be abused and 
the purpose of the school to that extent be defeated, it still 
remains fundamentally true that the teacher should be given 
the right under individual discretion to so regulate the ac- 
tivities of the pupils as to keep the work of the school at all 
times up to a high degree of efficiency and the children al- 
ways active and vigorous. This is the paramount purpose 
of recesses and intermissions. Sometimes this may be ac- 
complished by the arrangement of subjects throughout the 
day. But the results from tliis are minor in their effects. 
Instead of recesses those who see the loss of time in dismissal 
and reopening during recesses and who wish to avoid the 
efforts necessary to get the students in order and back to 
work after recess advocate substituting gymnastic exer- 
cises in the schoolroom with a full circulation of air as a 
substitute for recesses. It is true that in this way the order 
of the school is disturbed to a minimum degree and the loss 
of time is reduced to its lowest, but the real proposition, the 
health of the child is not considered. This question of sub- 
stituting constantly indoor gymnastics for play in the open 
air at first bid fair to solve many difficult problems attached 
to the question of recesses. But tests have soon shown that 
the substitute was a poor one as far as the vital functions 
of the body and the health of the pupil were concerned. It 



264 Education in Theory and Practice 

was soon evident that these received a benefit in the free 
and full bodily exercise in the open on the playgroud which 
no amount of indoor exercise could replace and leave the 
health of the pupil unimpaired. The real fact is, the ex- 
periments showed that gymnastics far from being recupera- 
tive in the same sense that play in the open air is, are a strain 
upon the child second only in waste to that entailed by 
such a heavy subject as mathematics, which is one of the 
subjects of greatest strain on the vital energies of the 
child. 

The Course of Study and the Daily Program. While, as 
was shown above, the course of study is fixed along pretty 
definite lines, it was also seen that it is sufficiently elastic 
to be slightly varied to meet any urgent local demands in 
minor subjects. These minor subjects may be limited be- 
cause of the school year, because of its being broken into a 
winter and a summer session, because the school day is short, 
because recesses, intermissions or general (opening) ex- 
ercises reduce the amount of time available for the purpose 
of actual teaching. Minor subjects may be dispensed with 
easily according to the Spencerian doctrine of the relative 
value of subjects as determined by the national and local 
ideals of education and the social element which the school 
is immediately to serve. In manufacturing, agricultural and 
mining districts, as well as in other sections adapted to en- 
gage in plying certain other forms of activities, the courses 
of study should be sufficientl}'^ elastic to allow of minor 
changes to meet the local demands arising from its immediate 
economic or social conditions. For example, music might 
not be as essential in the course of study for rural com- 
munities as nature study and agriculture, while in a mining 
district the demand might turn to dra-wang, modeling and 
clay working, or in a manufacturing district again basic work 
in the physical sciences, physics and clicmistry might be re- 
quired even in the lowest grades. Whereupon, upon the basis 
of relative value of subjects if it became necessary to cut or 
keep down the course of study the local demand along specific 
lines could be used as a basis. In larger cities where thei'e 
is more wealth and a larger leisure class and consequently 



Instruments of Progress in the Schoolroom ^65 

more education for culture, all subjects could be retained, 
the school year being continuous and of maximum length. 

Form and Content Subjects. From the viewpoint of the 
relative value of subjects they are divided into two groups, 
form subjects and content subjects. The form subjects 
are such subjects as reading, writing, arithmetic, drawing, 
music, spelling, language, etc. The content subjects are such 
subjects as geography, nature study, science, agriculture, 
civics, history and literature. The form subjects one will 
readily see are more important in the lower grades and 
grow less in importance as we ascend the scale of the grades. 
A scientific course of study will show this, and the daily 
program will give prominence to the subjects on the same 
basis. In the tendency to overcrowd the courses of study 
of the American public schools alluded to above, there is a 
disposition to crowd those years that experience has shown 
should be given over to the study of form subjects with con- 
tent subjects, thus neglecting the form subjects. But what- 
ever justification such steps should receive on theoretical 
grounds, experience shows that content subjects can only 
be put into the earlier years of schoolwork at the expense 
of the form subjects. Form subjects are di*ill subjects, sub- 
jects for the gaining of the rudiments and the establishing 
of paths of motor discharge along various nerve tracts, for 
the formation of accurate and definite habits in education, 
the gaining of complete muscular coordination in physical 
processes and full control in mental processes. Besides, the 
mental energy of children is very limited comparatively 
speaking. Hence to dissipate their energies between form 
subjects and content subjects is to make the work in both 
ineffective if not really null and void. 

Fatigue Agents. Given, then, the relative importance of 
form subjects and content subjects in the various educa- 
tional periods the daily program should cater to each in 
the different age periods as represented by the grades, and 
subjects should be sacrificed on the basis of their relation 
to the form series and the content series. But this is not 
the only problem to be considered in the arrangement of a 
daily program. The next matter of importance is the ques- 



^66 Education in Theory and Practice 

tion of the demand of the various subjects of the course 
of study upon the energies of the child, and the various 
amounts of child energy available during the daily school 
sessions for school work. Passing at this time the general 
effects of the school surroundings, the decorations of the 
room, its heating, lighting and ventilation and the general 
manner of the teacher upon the energies of the child, we 
come to those activities of the child immediately connected 
with the educational processes of the schoolroom in their 
relation to the energies of the child and their demands upon 
that energy. Careful study of the fatigue curve (better 
called the energy curve) of the child shows that it rises and 
falls throughout the day under normal conditions with 
rhythmic precision. There is a double loop of rhythm to the 
curve. It rises steadily in the morning from the opening of 
school until between nine and ten, generally between 9 :30 
and 9 :45. It reaches its maximum height for the morning 
round about ten o'clock in the morning session. It falls 
rapidly until the recess period about ten-thirty in the morn- 
ing. After the recess due to the invigoration received at 
that time in play in the open it rises more slowly and not as 
high as in the morning period before recess, reaching its 
maximum between eleven o'clock and eleven-fifteen, after 
which there is rapid fall until the noon intermission gives 
another longer period for rest and recuperation, and a 
recharging of the energy cells. In the afternoon session the 
energy curve rises as in the morning, reaches its full height 
more rapidly than in the morning and declines more rapidly 
generally sinking below the lowest level of the morning ses- 
sion. There is a break in the fall of the afternoon curve 
where there is an afternoon recess or the gymnastic exercises, 
though less pronounced, where the gymnastics are substituted 
for the open air play, when the curve rises again to a max- 
imum quickly and slowly falls until the close of school. 

The graphing of this curve shows some interesting facts. 
Neither in the morning session nor in the afternoon session, 
at the opening of the session, nor innnediately after the re- 
cesses or gymnastic exercises is the rise of the curve great- 
est, but only after the muscles become well charged with it 



Instruments of Progress in the Schoolroom 267 

does the curve reach its niaxiinum. The point of niaxiinum 
height after each opportunity for recharging the cells is 
given, is not reached for some time after the discharge of 
the energy has commenced. In the morning when the supply 
of energy available is greatest the current of discharge is 
longest in reaching its maximum strength as the curve shows 
by attaining at that time its greatest height. There is a 
like fact evident in the afternoon session and after both the 
recess or recesses of the morning and afternoon sessions. 
What is more to be expected the curve is lowest at the close 
of school in the afternoon, and that as the cells discharge 
and the energy is used up, the process of discharge is gradu- 
ally retarded as the energy curve shows by its gradual fall 
during the morning and afternoon but especially in that 
period of the afternoon session between recess and the close 
of school. 

The Helative Fatigue Value of Form Subjects and Con- 
tent Subjects. In this same connection it is perhaps un- 
expected but a fact that the primary subjects of the school 
course, the so-called form subjects are more taxing upon 
child energy than the higher subjects, the so-called content 
subjects. The reason for this probably lies in the fact that 
most of the form subjects involve the putting forth of con- 
siderable physical effort, sometimes in cases where muscular 
coordination and nerve control is poor they involve the 
putting forth of intense physical effort. This is seen in 
such instances where primary children write and draw with 
the whole body. In some rare and extreme cases the whole 
body of such pupils becomes rigid, the muscles contracted, 
mouth twisted, lips puckered and eyes squinted. That any 
exercise that thus draws energy from all muscles of the body 
and so intensely too will soon use up the store of energy 
in the energy-cells goes almost without saying. The same 
is true oftentimes in the cases of early vocalization and 
singing. Experiments along this line by investigators have 
proven that as energy users mathematics stand at the head 
of the list of subjects in the course of study, closely followed 
by writing, drawing, spelling, reading and gymnastics. 
Where the objects dealt with in drawing are colored, tests 



268 Education in Theory and Practice 

have shown that they produce less discharge from the energy- 
cells. Music, too, where it is singing of words especially if 
the tune is lively or the words cheery and not a mere drill in 
technical forms is less taxing, while nature study and 
geography are well toward the bottom of the list. Foreign 
languages probably because of their empty form and con- 
sequent lack of interest and extra demand for the exercise 
of will power stand at the bottom of the group. These facts 
all tend to show that the interest that one has in a subject 
has much to do with stimulating the energy cells to discharge 
their content, thereby making available for the work a greater 
amount of energy. It also shows that subjects that are not 
interesting create the greatest demand on the energy of the 
child. Hence these should not be forced upon the child mind 
for too long a period at a time, and hence in subjects in which 
there is special natural interest due to local or personal 
conditions, more can be done with less cost of energy than 
in these subjects in which there is not this natural interest. 
All of these facts about the cost of energy in performing 
the various duties of the schoolroom and the status of the 
bodily energy during different periods of the daily session 
will determine materially the arrangement of the subjects for 
recitation and the amount of time that each should have. 

The Arrangement of Subjects. These facts while vital 
are merely incidental to the general points that are of in- 
terest here in connection with the making of the daily pro- 
gram. From the facts given above it is obvious that the 
best results will follow if we do not have two form subjects, 
especially if the time allotted to them be long, follow each 
other in succession in the program; if form subjects they 
would have shorter periods than content subjects. It is 
also clear that two short periods in different subjects will be 
less fatiguing than one long one in the same subject, other 
things related thereto being equal; that form subjects should 
be given, in the degree of their demand for energy, at those 
periods in the day when the energy curve is highest, accord- 
ing to their demand as energy users ; that drill subjects should 
be of short duration and well dispersed throughout the daily 
program because of their power to increase the energy dis- 



Instruments of Progress in the Schoolroom 269 

charge; that the program for each session should open with 
light fatigue subjects in order to allow the process of energy 
discharge to get well under way, when those subjects which 
require more energy may follow at a time when the discharge 
of energy is sufficient to enable the pupil to handle them 
without undue fatigue. Speaking of the subjects in the 
course as heavy and light in a classification based on the 
amount of energy they use in preparation and recitation, 
the heav}' subjects should be interspersed with the light ones 
and come preferably in the morning, while in these the light 
ones should appear in the program at the opening of the 
session, just after recess periods, and toward the close of 
the morning and afternoon sessions. The heavy subjects 
should appear more toward the middle of the time between 
the opening and recess and recess and noon in the morning 
session and at a like time in the afternoon session. In the 
case of two exercises involving mechanical movements such 
as drawing, writing, singing and oral concerted class recita- 
tions there should be inserted between them in the program 
some other subject to break and relieve the strain. It is also 
better that they not follow any form of special physical ex- 
ercise, recess or intermission. Length of periods too should 
vary according to the " weight " of the subject, and tliis 
time should be short in the lower grades and lengthened 
gradually as the course ascends in the grades. Chadwick 
whose suggestions for recitation periods are the standard 
in America proposes in this instance that the pupils from 
5 to 7 be given recitation of fifteen minutes; 7 to 10 twenty 
minutes; 10 to 12, twenty-five minutes; 12 to 16, thirty 
minutes. This is on the assumption that the time is avail- 
able. It is believed also in the light of what has preceded 
that form subjects might in each of these cases where fatigue, 
the course of study, or daily program demands it, be al- 
lotted less time than the general scheme calls for. In high 
schools it is customary to give classes from 40 to 45 minutes. 
In colleges and universities the literary classes generally 
receive sixty minutes, rarely 120 minutes, while laboratory 
subjects extend over 160, 180 or even to 240 minutes (4 
hours). 



270 Education in Theory and Practice 

Daily Program in Ungraded Schools. In the ungraded 
schools of the rural districts, the graded schools of the con- 
gested city districts and those cities where only one session 
is held the ])roblem of time is a serious one which must be 
solved as best the conditions will allow. Though for smaller 
children home study is condemned for physiological and 
pedagogical reasons the first move made to economize time 
is to do away as far as possible with the school study period 
and use the time thus gained for recitations. Another 
method employed to satisfy imperative demands for time 
is to alternate subjects. Still another is to estimate the 
relative value of the various subjects and cut down the reci- 
tation periods allotted them in the Aveek's program, thus 
creating time for the other subjects, A method of last re- 
sort is to remove subjects from the daily routine entirely and 
give general instruction in them during the opening or gen- 
eral exercises when all of the pupils are present. Of all of 
these, alternation or the reduction of the number of recita- 
tions in a given subject per week is the least objectionable. 
For this purpose of alternation such subjects as drawing 
and modeling, Avriting and music, nature study and geography 
may be used without great loss to the pupil, inconvenience 
to the teacher or disruption of the program. Morals and 
manners where not taught in the general or opening exer- 
cises may be alternated with a gymnastic or recreation 
period. Where there are two or more classes in a room 
some of the subjects such as spelling and writing and even 
drawing might be doubled up without serious loss or incon- 
venience. 

This statement while based on acknowledged principles is 
only suggestive. The teacher will in most cases be com- 
pelled to depend on individual resources to master the situa- 
tion, and much that could not be mentioned or even with 
safety be advised may sometimes have to be done. All that 
can be said is that as much of the standard systems and 
approved principles as is possible should be used in making 
out a daily program. Once one has been made out it should 
be strictly adhered to until conditions make it impossible 
to follow it. Whereupon a new one which can be followed 



Instruments of Progress in the Schoolroom 271 

should replace the old one. Daily programs facilitate the 
school work, make it definite, enable it to proceed without 
break and consequent loss of time, destroys all dangers of 
yielding to hobbies and favorite subjects and insures uni- 
form and general education. It compels to a great extent 
the preparation of the work of the school for the next day 
at home and rounds out all of the w^ork of the school proc- 
esses into systematic whole. 

No examples of a daily program are given here, because 
these vary so in every locality and condition that no great 
uniformity exists. Nor can they exist. Furthermore it is 
assumed that with a careful understanding of the principles 
given here and with the course of study for the graces in hand 
any teacher can provide himself with a daily program to 
meet the particular demands of his school. 

REFERENCE READING 

King's " Education for Social Efficiency." Chap. XL 
De Garmo's " Interest and Education." Chap. V. 
Miinsterberg's " Psychology and the Teacher." Chaps. XXV, XXVI. 
Jones' "Teaching Children to Study." Chap. V. 
Colgrove's "The Teacher and the School." Chaps. X, XI, XII. 
De Garmo's " Principles of Secondary Education." Chaps. I, V. 
Johonnot's " Principles and Practice of Teaching." Chaps. Ill, IV, V, 
VI, XIV. 



CHAPTER XII 
ACCESSORIES OF THE RECITATION 

Their Value. No matter connected with the school and its 
processes is as important as the work of the recitation. All 
of the functions of the school are secondary and accessory 
to it. It is the crowning glory, the climax of the educa- 
tive process toward which all other activities tend. What- 
ever successes attend other phases of the schoolwork, how- 
ever well directed efforts may be along other lines, if in the 
recitation there is lack of method, lack of system, lack of 
success, all else is practically in vain. Out of the recitation 
come the facts that make up chiefly the early store of knowl- 
edge with which the young enter upon life, out of the recita- 
tion come the order and association of facts that establish 
their relative values and give to them practical utilit}'^, out 
of the recitation comes that power of discrimination and 
skill in the use of the facts together with the confidence in 
one's ability to use them in harmony with the world's proc- 
esses, which is the starting point of all of those forms of 
self-activity that lead to persistent endeavor and ultimately 
to achievement. Thus the theory and practice of education 
is justified by basic philosophy and evidences of a keen and 
thorough understanding of general principles, when it makes 
the recitation fundamental in all educational forms and edu- 
cative processes. 

The Preparation of the Teacher. Special preparation 
is necessary for the proper performances of any and every 
kind of special work. The more highly professional and 
special the work the greater is the need for special prepara- 
tion. In every field of human endeavor this is either tacitly 
assumed or overtly admitted. And yet, despite this fact, 
in the teaching profession more than in any other, the novice 

and unprepared is inducted into places of authority, fespoii' 

272 * 



Accessories of the Recitation 273 

sibilitv and direction. That the profession loses in standing 
and achievement as a result of such conditions must ob- 
viously be true. This loss in standing and achievement is 
felt by the profession in the withdrawal of public confidence 
and the continued low salary which the members of the pro- 
fession everywhere receive. However, the recent agitation 
for better prepared teachers is reaping good fruit and is re- 
sulting gradually in the elevation of the rating of the teacher 
both in the community and throughout the state. It is also 
resulting in increasing the amounts available for salaries. 
The assessment of school taxes is increasing everywhere as 
are the number of sources from which school funds may be 
derived. Correspondingly, if the possession of higher grade 
certificates is to be taken as evidence the teachers everywhere 
are better prepared. In the twelve Southern States the per- 
centage of teachers having first grade certificates has in- 
creased thirty-two percent during the past decade, those 
holding second grade certificates have increased nineteen per- 
cent, while those teachers holding third grade have decreased 
eleven percent. In many Northern States where the stand- 
ing of the teachers as evidenced by the grade of certificate 
they held was already high, there is a corresponding improve- 
ment in intellectual qualifications. 

Heart Training. Apart from this, generally speaking, 
the kind of preparation necessary for the teacher is of a two- 
fold nature. Teachers need preparation of intellect and 
of feeling, that is, preparation of mind and of heart, if we 
may use language current in professional literature. Fur- 
thermore, the teacher needs the very highest preparation ob- 
tainable in each of these. It is ordinarily proposed both 
in theory and practice that the amount of intellectual prep- 
aration necessary for the teacher in the lower grades is small 
and that this demand increases in amount as the teaching 
ascends to the higher grade of pupils. From the viewpoint 
that the teacher must alwaj's keep a certain distance mentally 
ahead of the pupils in order to hold their respect, and blaze 
a path through the field of knowledge which the student may 
follow without fear or equivocation, and that it will make 
the teacher a mysterious savant with powers in awe of which 



274 Education in Theory/ and Practice 

the pupils must stand, this view is probably correct. But 
if we take the viewpoint that the earlier steps in the educa- 
tional processes, being fundamental and the foundation upon 
which the superstructure of education is to be built, then 
they are paramount and consequently the sine qua non (the 
indispensable thing) of education. Add to this the fact that 
the mind and body of the young child is a tender plant sus- 
ceptible to the influence of every force acting upon it and 
whose effects run through a long period of the child's activity 
and perhaps throughout his whole life, determining his abili- 
ties and capacities for organic activity and his share of hu- 
man joys, then, we can see that it must require for the best 
good of the child even better preparation both in heart and 
mind for those teachers who are expected to supervise and 
direct the elementary educational processes of the child. 
That teacher needs the aid of the entire available field of 
human knowledge, if he would even hope for success. The 
complacent satisfaction of the young teacher as he enters 
upon his new duties of teaching the young " shoots to shoot " 
entirely unconscious of the difficulty that lies before him or 
the responsibilities that devolve upon his shoulders in this 
new capacity is a magnificent example of blissful ignorance. 
For the mere dealing out of facts of knowledge or the direct- 
ing of the muscular movements of the elementary school ex- 
ercises, it requires but little knowledge on the part of the 
teacher, we must admit. But if the giving out of these facts 
and the directing of these movements are to be done with 
due regard to the physical, mental and moral best good of 
the child, it must be clear to all that the knowledge of even 
the most learned is not always sufficient to guarantee that 
they will be done in accord with the demands of nature, the 
state and societ}'^, and resultingly in accord with the demands 
of the best good of the child. 

It is an ancient maxim gleaned from the richness of the 
experience of the centuries of experience through Avhich so- 
ciety has passed which says " practice makes perfect." But 
nowhere is the truth of this saying more evident than in the 
processes of the schoolroom. Everywhere and in every field 
of labor there are things necessary for efficiency in work that 



Accessories of the Recitation 275 

can be learned only in practice. In school teaching it is 
only by meeting and solving the daily problems as they arise 
that the teacher becomes strong. Too often, teachers use 
the profession as a stepping stone to another profession. 
Individuals enter this profession and little suspecting the 
intricacies attached to it in operation fail or because of 
the unsuspected side to it, discovered by close contact with it, 
form a dislike for it and leave it for another profession. 
Others enter it deliberately to earn money to enter into other 
fields of activity or professions and at the intended times 
other things being favorable leave it for their chosen pur- 
pose. No profession suffers from this practice as does the 
teaching profession. The problem is partly created by wo- 
men who enter the profession to earn a living until a fitting 
chance for marriage offers itself when they resign mostly 
at times to suit their own convenience leaving the school and 
the authorities to suffer and work off the difficulties thus 
created as best they can. This has become a serious matter 
with school authorities. Some have been forced by way of 
protection to make rather stringent regulations regarding 
the practice. In many cities as a result of this practice 
being carried to excess school boards have passed measures 
compelling teachers when elected to sign a contract and 
agree to fulfill the terms of the contract during the whole 
of that school year. In many cities also this has been a 
potent factor in admitting married women into the eligibility 
list of teachers thus crowding out the girls for whom some- 
times strong pleas are made. The harm done by this practice 
of young unmarried women during a school year to the 
school, is often irremediable at least during that particular 
year, for the available material in mid-year is often poor. 
The lack of knowledge of the nature of the schoolwork done 
by the teacher who has resigned and the demand for a new 
learning of the pupils and the work so hinder the progress 
of the work where such a resignation and election have taken 
place that the work of that whole year is practically wasted, 
much to the loss and sometimes serious handicap of the child. 
Let this be repeated often in the course of a child's grade 
work and his education in the fundamentals of education 



276 Education in Theory and Practice 

will be to all intents and purposes ruined, especially inas- 
much as a bad foundation in education will mean a bad edu- 
cational superstructure. Some of our most brilliant char- 
acters and greatest statesmen have boasted of the fact that 
they have made use of the small salaries and abundant op- 
portunity for experience of the lowly schoolroom as a step- 
ping stone to the larger and more remunerative fields of 
labor and professions. This may be a credit to the men 
who boast of it, but the school certainly has paid dearly 
for this service it has rendered the nation in this capacity, 
many a child's future being blighted thereby. The states- 
man and professional man have reaped the reward, but the 
school and the school-child have paid the price. Again, 
unlike the lawyer and the doctor, the school teacher is gen- 
erally not a finished product educationally. The teaching 
profession is composed to a great extent of individuals who 
have dropped off from school all along the line for various 
reasons. Some of them intended at the start only to go so 
far in school, then to begin teaching. The opportunity for 
this not presenting itself at the expected time, they have 
continued in school until the opportunity did present itself, 
when they quit school and began to teach. Still others quit 
school under various forms of pressure and drift into teaching 
as a possible means of earning a living, only later under the 
lack of renewed ambition to turn off into some other pro- 
fession as a matter of choice from particular fitness, for 
pecuniary or other reasons more often personal than other- 
wise. 

Another fruitful source of injury to the cause of the pub- 
lic school and education in general, is the disposition of 
those in authority to gratify their desire for personal power 
by catering to those who worship them by fawning or truck- 
ling, or who use the schoolroom as a means of " dispensing 
public patronage." Besides condemning vehemently such 
practices for their direct evil effect upon the community and 
the school and in some forms of " dragging them into poli- 
tics " no honest manly aspiring school teacher who is properly 
prepared to do his work is going to tolerate such treatment, 
or risk his future by entering upon his life's work on a basis 



Accessories of the Recitation 277 

so fickle as momentary political preferment. Nothing too 
severe can be §aid of such a practice and any community in 
which such a method of administering the school exists, 
should rise up in its strength and break up such a system at 
once at whatever cost in money, time and labor. Politics 
and good schools are as fundamentally antithetical as are 
oil and water. The same is true of " favoritism " in select- 
ing teachers and good schools. You may lash oil and water 
into a mulch wherein they may appear to have become mixed, 
but the moment the energetic process is over, each returns to 
its own and the mixture is no more. Whereupon all of the 
myriad evils of lack of cooperation and inefficiency wax and 
grow strong to the destruction of all possibilities for good 
in the system. Herein lies the danger from politics and 
favoritism in school affairs. When they come into school 
administration competency and fitness depart leaving the 
school in the possession of incompetency and its accompany- 
ing train of evils. 

Professional Travning. Apart from the general educa- 
tional qualifications given above as a requisite for a teacher 
and those general personal qualifications mentioned else- 
where, such as enthusiasm, kindness, sympathy, esteem, love, 
tact, in dealing with pupils and mastery of subjects taught, 
for a teacher to be really proficient in his work he should 
also be well trained in the professional side of his work. For 
this latter purpose a working knowledge of history of edu- 
cation, where the nature of the problem of education as con- 
ceived by the world behind us is shown and the views and 
methods used by the men of such times in all of the coun- 
tries of civilization in solving the problem is stated connect- 
edly ; of psychology, where the method of operation of the 
mind and its nature, growth and development, together with 
the relation of the chief faculties for effective schoolroom 
work are shown ; of pedagogy, where the method of prepar- 
ing the material to be taught and the best methods of pre- 
senting them to the pupils, the methods of maintaining proper 
discipline and control and of inflicting punishment during 
the work, of applying the rules of method to those of matter 
in order to effectively reach and impress mind. Besides these 



278 Education in Theory and Practice 

special phases books abound which amplify under the various 
heads of special treatment the particular parts of the more 
general subject of education. We have for example many 
books on punishments in school, school discipline, school 
management, general and special methods of the recitation 
and the philosophy of education. In addition to these there 
is also an abundance of current professional literature to 
which every teacher has access and of which he should gladly 
make constant and fitting avail. In order to increase the 
professional training of the teacher local teachers' meetings 
are held generally bi-weekly or montlily where persons com- 
petent to instruct are in charge, county institutes and state 
associations where under competent instruction by associa- 
tion and communication one with another, teachers may 
gain better and more practical knowledge as to expedients 
in schoolroom work and discipline. Besides these, much is 
being offered to teachers now in the form of summer normals, 
and summer schools, attendance upon which by the coopera- 
tion of the various local authorities is being made compulsory 
to an ever increasing extent. Further opportunity of per- 
sonal advancement both along professional and general edu- 
cational lines is offered by correspondence schools, for the 
efficiency of whose training one cannot always vouch but 
which are springing up everywhere. To these have been 
added still more recently university extension courses, read- 
ing circles (organized oftentimes under the advice if not di- 
rectly under the direction and supervision of the superin- 
tendents), and many other forms of gatherings, where litera- 
ture upon school matters is read and discussed, lectures upon 
special problems given and a general interest in matters 
pedagogical is aroused and fostered, of practice where under 
model conditions and an experienced eye the prospective 
teacher may get some experience. None of these methods, 
however, surpass in results the simple and perhaps somewhat 
antiquated method of home study. In the quiet of his own 
chamber the enthusiastic, energetic, wide-awake teacher may 
gain as much of practical value as through many of the other 
methods of gaining knowledge and acquiring professional 
fitness mentioned here, combined. In regard to the demand 



Accessories of the Recitation 279 

for preparation of the teacher for his work Socrates, who 
in the work of pedagogy has rank second to none, said " what 
a man proposes to do that he should learn well before the 
doing is attempted." D. P. Page said in the same connec- 
tion " Going to the class so full of the subject, that were 
the text-book annihilated, he could make another and better 
one — he will have no difficulty to secure attention." J. G. 
Fitch writes out of the depth of his experience that " a true 
teacher never thinks his education complete but is always 
seeking to add to his own knowledge. The moment any man 
ceases to be a systematic student, he ceases to be an effective 
teacher." Teaching is a living profession and no teacher 
who is not actively alive can hope to keep in the advance 
guard of teachers. Not only must he be fully and thor- 
oughly conversant with the special field which he teaches but 
he must be acquainted with the general field of knowledge and 
by constant study keep abreast of the times in the advance 
of knowledge and the introduction of new methods. Not that 
he must be always in search for the " fad " in education nor 
the insecure facts of the speculator, but he should always 
keep up with the safe advance in the production of facts and 
the devising of methods. This represents culture and sober 
training. 

Assigning the Lesson. The first step leading up to the 
recitation proper is the assignment of the lesson, generally 
referred to merely as the assignment. This is a very im- 
portant preliminary, for upon its effectiveness depends to 
a great extent the results obtained in the recitation itself. 
The assignment of a lesson assumes, to begin with, that the 
teacher is well acquainted with the needs and abilities of the 
pupils, just what he knows, what he can do, how much he 
can do well, on the one hand, and on the other, what diffi- 
culties the lesson itself presents that the pupil has not at his 
command the means of overcoming, and what peculiarities 
in statement, thought or method occur in it that might mis- 
lead the pupil and thereby cause misdirected effort and 
wasted time, which have as their ultimate end his discourage- 
ment. Being acquainted with all of this it also assumes that 
he will make due allowance for it and will take such steps, 



280 Education in Theory and Practice 

in the explanation of the assignment as will be in his judg- 
ment best suited to remove all such difficulties. Assignment 
is not intended to make the lesson so easy for the pupil 
that it will seem to him mere child's play to get it, all human 
beings enjoy those things best whicli are obtained at the 
greatest sacrifice in time and effort. Of this fact the pupil 
in the schoolroom is a splendid witness. However, it would 
obviously be out of the question to assign a lesson and ex- 
pect the pupils to get it, when it presented difficulties that 
he neither knew how to overcome, or knowing this had not 
within his reach the means of overcoming them. After hav- 
ing overcome the difficulties of the lesson itself the next step 
in the assignment is to show the value of the lesson in the 
immediate process through which the child is going and con- 
nect it where possible to his past activities, inasmuch as 
all native interests are strongest and lie along the line of 
the things that are directly related to self and the welfare 
of self, either past, present or future. Once this has been 
shown him you have struck a naturally responsive cord 
whereby you can create in him interest in and desire for 
the subject matter of the lesson. In order for the teacher 
to be able fully to meet the aims of the lesson in the assign- 
ment, he must have carefully prepared it in all of its details, 
must have well perceived its general purpose in the course, 
its relation to the other subjects in the course both those 
preceding and those succeeding it. He must also know 
well the facts in the lesson, their relation to each other, to 
those facts which have preceded in former lessons and those 
which are to come in future lessons. Experience has taught 
tliat where natural interests are wanting the natural love 
of the young for stories and anecdotes and their immediate 
response to them with the keenest interest, may be used as 
a means of arousing artificial interests. These anecdotes 
and stories may be fittingly connected with the facts of the 
text and appropriate queries advanced as to how such and 
such facts in the lesson have come to be, what becomes of the 
characters in the next lesson, or what happened in the 
previous lesson or lessons, etc. By referring the pupils to 
the text for answers to such queries we arouse their inter- 



Accessories of the Recitation 281 

est and send them in a state of expectant attention in search 
of explanations to the queries and answers to the questions, 
which, whether they establish a personal connection with 
the events of the text or not, are bound to lead them deep 
into the text, with the result that they will gain a full knowl- 
edge of its contents, their relation and application. 

The Length of Lessons and Child Energy. The length of 
lessons assigned should bear a distinct relation to the age of 
the pupil, the time that he has to spend upon it, and the 
amount of bodily energy that he may use for getting it, 
without unduly robbing the growing body of such amounts of 
energy as are required for healthy activity and normal 
growth. Where there is departmental work teachers in their 
assignment should always make due allowance for the de- 
mands upon the pupils from other teachers. Children as 
we have seen, and especially the younger ones have limited 
amounts of mental energy, and though under the strain of 
powerful stimuli such as super-excitement, of love and fear, 
they may command more energy for use in getting an as- 
signment either in school or out, it is better not to tax 
these energies too much. Whenever there is an excessive de- 
mand for this energy in mental activity the bodily organs 
suffer from the loss of it either by temporary impairment or 
permanent injury, such as atrophy of the special organs or 
in some such form as retardation in general organic de- 
velopment. Consequently in the assignment of the lesson 
it is necessary that it be not too long. The length of the 
lesson therefore will be determined very decidedly by such 
things as the age of the pupils in the class, the advancement 
of the class in the grades and in the particular subject, how 
long they have been studying the subject, what mastery of it 
they have already attained, what special fitness they may 
have for the preparation of it either in school or at home, 
or both, whether or not they will have opportunity for 
guidance and help from the teacher during the study period, 
how long the study period will be and what aids such as ob- 
jects, maps, designs, drawings, and other illustrative material 
they will have access to for use in making clear the facts of 
the lesson and driving them home to the mind. These con- 



282 Education in Theory and Practice 

stitute quite a large number of details to be kept in mind in 
assigning a lesson, but, if they are given even momentary 
consideration, it will be seen that they are highly essential to 
the successful achievement of the real end of the assign- 
ment. Nothing is so discouraging to the young mind un- 
trained in effective willing as to be called upon to perform con- 
tinued labor, to put forth long continued effort, and to be 
constantly confronted by tasks whose length and difficulty 
make it impossible for him to successfully perform them. 
Lessons should be reasonable both in length and the number 
and kind of difficulties which they present. It is as dis- 
couraging for pupils to have lessons that cannot be mastered 
because unreasonably difficult, as it is to have such assigned 
as are unreasonably long. The fact is that the short diffi- 
cult lesson if not capable of being mastered is really more 
discouraging to most minds than a long lesson that is " un- 
gotten " merely because too long. The one situation begets 
a feeling of helplessness entirely wanting in the other where 
the consciousness exists that all that is required is a little 
more time. Though as far as knowledge getting and educa- 
tion are concerned the result in each case is generally the 
same, namely nil, association from their past experiences 
both in the mental and physical world has led most pupils 
to believe that short lessons and easy lessons are synony- 
mous and that likewise long ones and difficult ones are 
synonymous. We have all seen the effect of this kind of 
youthful association, and witnessed the ineffectiveness of our 
efforts to prove that long lessons may be easy, easier even 
than shorter ones. 

Clarifi/ing the Assignment. Another grave problem of the 
assignment, especially if it is to be effective for good, is to 
make it understood by all of the class. Many a teacher has 
awakened, after lengthy efforts to make clear in the assign- 
ment the scope, difficulty and method of attack of the lesson, 
only to find sometimes that much of the class has failed to 
grasp the real and practical points of the assignment. The 
difficulty here is mostly one of attention on the part of the 
pupils. Pupils have their attention elsewhere when the les- 
son is being assigned. They are in disorder. Some are look- 



Accessories of the Recitation 283 

ing out of the windows or elsewhere, while others may even 
be looking directly at the teacher, but with thoughts miles 
away and never hear one word either of the amount of the 
work that is to be prepared or of the explanations that go 
to make up the preliminary and accessory steps of the as- 
signment properly so-called. This latter form of misun- 
derstanding is a problem of discipline and must be overcome, 
by all means. 

Another form of misunderstanding is where the teacher 
in making the assignment uses one set of words and thinks 
she is using another, says one thing and thinks she is saying 
another, thereby giving the students the wrong idea or con- 
fusing them. This is a minor fault, however, and seldom 
happens, requiring only a little care on the part of the pupil 
and teacher to be entirely removed. For in most cases such 
words are not sufficiently in harmony to escape detection, nor 
is the sense of what is being said sufficiently obscure to prevent 
the proper word being supplied in thought thereby enabling 
the error to be seen and corrected at once. 

Still another cause of misunderstanding of the assign- 
ment which applies also to the work of the recitation proper 
is that misunderstanding which arises from the teacher's 
vocabulary (use of words) being out of reach of the pupils. 
This is commonly called talking over the heads of the pupils. 
To assume that because pupils listen attentively and ask no 
questions they understand all that is said, has been proved 
again and again to be a serious mistake. It is surprising 
sometimes to learn what crude conceptions they form of what 
one says and how far off from the truth their conceptions are. 
In the first place the schoolroom should always be the place 
for very simple but correct English. But even this will be 
no guarantee that one is understood. This should be fol- 
lowed now and then by request from the members of the class 
for the meaning of a particular word, phrase or sentence 
used by the teacher which would show whether or not the pupil 
was taking in what was said and connecting it properly with 
the other facts in his mind related to the facts of this lesson. 

Nor can the mere statement of the pupil himself that he 
understands what is being said be taken as gospel truth. 



284 Education in Theory and Practice 

For oftentimes he honestly thinks he both understands and 
is making proper application of what he hears or sees but 
in each is mistaken. The safe process for the teacher is to 
verify this by constant interrogation of the members of the 
class. One's vocabulary is made up of the words that he 
hears and reads most. This is a potent argument against 
putting the young minds of the primary grades who are pos- 
sessed of but meager vocabularies consisting mostly of 
nursery language in charge of highly and technically trained 
minds. The language of such teachers is mostly out of 
reach of these little minds. For they live and move, outside 
of the schoolroom, at least, in a different intellectual atmos- 
phere from that of their pupils and in one where all they read 
and hear is in this technical vocabulary. This technical 
vocabulary is often, unconsciously and without previous in- 
tention to acquire it, a part of such persons and floAvs spon- 
taneously at all times, especially when the mind is directed 
intently toward the thought of the talk without regard for 
the language in which the thought is couched. When such 
teachers talk to their classes, if these happen to be young 
pupils, there is constant danger of their shooting over the 
heads of their pupils the bolts of knowledge which they would 
much prefer should have penetrated the minds of the pupils. 
Of course, with due practice and care simple words can al- 
ways be used, but where one thinks naturally in a technical 
or philosophical vocabulary it is difficult to use an untech- 
nical or an unphilosophical one and not sacrifice thereby the 
thought to the words. It is the same as when one speaks in 
a foreign language, having previously thought in the mother 
tongue and then translated it into the foreign tongue. 

The thoughts, where such methods are necessary, become 
dead, prosaic and lose their power to charm and enthuse. I 
speak here only of this habit as innocently acquired. The 
other where big words are purposely sought for the sake of 
vaunting self and giving a false impression, though it is often 
met, is too belittling and unworthy to receive any consid- 
eration. 

In the assignment the lesson should be discussed from be- 
ginning to end. In this discussion emphasis should be laid 



Accessories of the Recitation ftS5 

upon the points of likeness between the various facts of this 
and other lessons with their essential points of likeness and 
difference made clear. In every lesson there is generally 
some particular method of attack which will yield results 
better than another. Just what form of attack is best fitted 
for each particular lesson the teacher must determine. Much 
of the lesson, too, is fundamental, the rest merely explanatory 
to or descriptive of it. In the paragraph for example there 
is a main sentence around which the rest of the paragraph 
clusters. In the paragraph it is the topic sentence which is 
primary and around which all else clings as merely descrip- 
tive or explanatory. The proper assignment of the lesson 
will discover for the pupil that which is important in the 
paragraphs or topics of the lesson and bring them out 
clearly. The ability to separate the tares from the wheat 
in a lesson is more than half of tlie battle. A book does not 
contain all that is to be known of a subject and by the very 
necessity of the case cannot contain it. In order, therefore, 
to make his teaching as effective and broad as possible the 
teacher should aim to extend the facts of the book which at 
best can be only suggestive of the contents of that particular 
field of fact and thought, supplement them by adding those 
facts of the pupil's individual experience, which have a pe- 
culiar force and charm for him, and build upon these by 
references to other texts where the subject matter of the 
lesson may be reviewed. By this means a very strong stimu- 
lant to the activity of the child mind may be obtained in the 
interest aroused by various discreet forms of comments and 
queries in the adopted text, aided by suggestions as to the 
way the subject may be found treated in other texts. The 
mental principle that gives justification to this method is that 
the more forms and relations in which a fact is learned the 
more numerous and strong will be the associations formed, 
whereupon it will be retained better and have a greater work- 
ing force in the individual mind. 

Outlines in Teaching. A very efFectiv^e method of teach- 
ing, one highly recommended in all sections and very gener- 
ally employed, is the method of teaching by outlines. This 
is to be especially advocated where the teaching is sufficiently 



286 Education in Theory and Practice 

advanced as to be in those subjects classified as content sub- 
jects in contradistinction to form subjects. By the time 
the pupils have reached these subjects they are sufficiently 
advanced to recognize the relations of facts and understand 
the value of their association in educational processes. 
These outlines may be given at the beginning of a subject 
and may extend throughout the course if the teacher so de- 
sires. The outlines of the work may be given altogether 
at the beginning of the work, in parts as the work progresses 
when rational points of the subject have been reached or 
at the end of the 3'ear when the subject has been finished. 
Where there is sufficient time it may be constructed from day 
to day as the class progresses in the Avork. Where there are 
ostensible reasons against the giving of the outline at any 
of these times the best good of the class in that subject as 
judged by the teacher should be the guide. It can be readily 
understood how particular local conditions might materially 
affect the demand for and use of the outline in the work. 
This fact comes to the front with force in the matter of 
subjects that are continued through two or more years. 
Here it will be necessary, if the outline is used, for the 
teachers of the different grades to confer and agree upon 
the outline to be given and the amount that should be giA'en 
out during each year of the work. The outline is especially 
of value in the review, where it is necessary that each part of 
the subject shall be seen and reviewed pureW from its rela- 
tions to the whole. Outlines should be prepared fresh each 
year with due regard for the advancement and peculiar fit- 
ness of each particular class. This will also give oppor- 
tunity for any change in the subject matter, any advance or 
increase of the teacher's knov/ledge or change of method in 
teaching it. The outline itself may best be divided into two 
parts appropriate in content and length for the class con- 
sistent with their age, advancement in the study of the sub- 
ject and general preparation for it. 

Another of the special advantages of the outline apart 
from the knowledge of the whole which it makes possible, is, 
that it gives a logical division of the subject even down to 
topics and subtopics, when each part of it can be seen in its 



Accessories of the Recitation 287 

relations to the whole, one thing taken at a time without fear 
of its being conceived of as a separate whole without rela- 
tion to the other parts, both those now past and those still 
to come. By being logical in division and treatment the sub- 
ject will conform to the natural methods of the mind and 
consequently will be better and more quickly grasped and 
longer and more clearly retained by the pupil. Again, be- 
sides enabling the taking up of as small a part of the subject 
matter as the circumstances may demand the outline also 
permits the limiting of the length of the lesson with ease 
without undue sacrifice of the connection and the conception 
of the part in its relation to the whole. Success in teach- 
ing a subject means that there must be due precaution taken 
to see that a given lesson is mastered before the class takes 
up another. It means also that the assignment must not be 
too long even if the assignment must be reduced to the " one 
thing at a time and that done well " rule. Furthermore, it 
means that the various parts must never be allowed to lose 
their relation to the whole in the pupil's mind, and that every 
legitimate means available both natural and artificial must 
be taken, to remove all unnecessary and insurmountable dif- 
ficulties, arouse interest and hold the attention of the pupils. 
Teaching How to Study. While the process of teaching 
how to study is, as is the assignment of the lesson, a matter 
accessory to the hearing of the recitation, like the assignment 
it is really more important than the recitation as far as the 
getting of knowledge from the lesson is concerned. This 
fact is evident since the hearing of the recitation is only for 
the purpose of seeing how well the principles of the assign- 
ment and those of studying have been understood and how 
effectively they have been applied. In the crowded cur- 
riculum of the schools of to-day and the constant pressure 
from parents, superintendents and school authorities for 
tangible evidences of progress, the teacher who has not full 
self-possession, determination and a clear knowledge of that 
which is fundamental in school processes in contradistinction 
to that which is superficial, is often likely to desert the true 
educative processes for the false ones. Demanding results in 
a schoolroom without knowing how these results are ob- 



288 Education in Theory and Practice 

tained, how permanent they are, or how effective for hfe they 
will be, is a serious mistake and one which no Avell wisher of 
the school or of the pupils can safely afford to do. When 
those on the outside make this demand without knowing the 
evil it will entail upon the pupils, it becomes the duty of the 
teacher who does know this, to insist upon the righteousness 
of his method and to pursue the ends of the school work 
according to those methods which science assures him will 
bring about the best and most lasting results. Demand 
for subjects should never be allowed to take precedence over 
the demand for study hours, nor the amount of work which 
can be thoroughly and well done, neither with the teacher nor 
with the pupil. Study hours should be given to all pupils 
of whatever grade and should be well dispersed throughout 
the entire day and week. Not only study hours when the 
pupils may study undisturbed are necessary, but also study 
hours when they may study under the guidance and super- 
vision of the teacher. Every daily program if it expects 
success to attend the efforts of the teacher should allow 
vacant periods for teacher and pupils, especially in the lower 
grades, where the habits of study are being formed and the 
pupils need help and guidance. For in the early stages of 
acquiring habits of study the pupils need the assistance and 
supervision of the teacher. As was seen above, the pupil 
either through inattention or other causes is likel}' at any 
time to miss the assignment of the lesson or when he does 
not miss it to misunderstand it. Unless discovered and 
remedied early this shortcoming will bring serious obstruction 
to the progress of the child in his work. But onl}^ conjoint 
study between teacher and pupil can detect this fact in time 
to bring about the best results for the pupil. Whenever 
there is a misunderstanding or miscarriage of the assignment 
undirected study is a harm whose effects ma}' develop bad 
habits in the child that will follow him throughout his edu- 
cational career and even on into the activities of life itself. 
Of course, just as it is bad application of principle to make 
the assignment so easy that the child will have nothing to do 
and thereby defeat the very purpose of assignment, so it is 
possible for the teacher in attempting to study with the 



Accessories of the Recitation 289 

child, to study for liim and thereby give the child nothing 
to do to cultivate his mind and whet his appetite for study, 
thus robbing him of the true benefits of study, making him 
lazy and dependent and annulling the good effects of both 
the study period and the studying process, for the attain- 
ment of which the study period and its methods were origin- 
ally initiated. However, it must not be understood that 
mere reading over of the lesson with a pupil is study prop- 
erly so-called. There must be explanation, the explanation 
arising from thought-compelling questions, thought-com- 
pelling voids in the content of the lesson. 

The first time the lesson is read over only the more promi- 
nent facts should be sought out. These should be explained 
and driven home to the mind. Subsequent readings should 
each add their quota of facts of secondary or tertiary im- 
portance until all that is desirable in a lesson is obtained. 
Like the words of the teacher but perhaps more prominently 
and frequently so, the words of the text are beyond the com- 
prehension of the pupils. As a result he may oftentimes 
labor throughout the study period not getting his lesson 
not alone because he does not know how to get it, but also 
because he does not know why he does not know how. 
Another advantage of the study period is that during it the 
teacher can learn the methods of study used by the pupils 
and thereby discover wherein they are faulty and very often 
why in their application they bring failure. L. R. Fiske says 
in this regard that during the study period the teacher should 
find out not only " what has been learned " but also " how 
the student proceeds in gaining knowledge should be inves- 
tigated and guidance offered " where necessary. Hinsdale 
writes " The teacher is to help the pupil to learn his lesson 
by explaining its language. He should not so much work 
for the pupil as with him. He should guide him not by di- 
recting him to go forward but by leading him forward." 
Prof. Frank McMurray in his " Method of the Recitation " 
sa3^s " wrong methods of study, involving much unnecessary 
friction, prevent enjoyment of school. This want of en- 
joyment results in much dawdling of time, a meager quantity 
of knowledge and a desire to quit school at the first oppor- 



290 Education in Theory and Practice 

tunitj." The danger of misunderstanding and confusion 
from the language of the text books is particularly promi- 
nent where difFerent text books are used in the same class, 
or where in attempting to supplement the work of the class, 
pupils are referred to other texts. While such a practice is 
undoubtedly a commendable one and is filled with magnificent 
possibilities of good, the teacher should be well acquainted 
with the texts suggested both in their thought content and 
word usage so that he will know that it will be easily under- 
stood and that it will not either by the facts it gives, the 
language which it uses to express these facts, or by the trend 
of the thought advanced, bring out in the pupil's mind con- 
tradiction or lead to confusion in the pupil's thought. These 
dangers if allowed to creep into the use of new or different 
text books will do more harm than the supplementary knoAvl- 
edge they contain will do good. " To make the text book 
a help " therefore, says Bain, " and not a hindrance demands 
the greatest delicacy ; the sole consideration being that the 
pupil must be kept in one single line of thought and never 
be required to comprehend on the same point conflicting or 
varying statements." 

Study Questions. In centering the attention of the pupils 
upon the main points of the lesson a system of questions have 
been worked out known as " study questions " which are very 
widely in use and which have received the sanction of most 
authorities on the subject of pedagog3^ These study ques- 
tions are ordinarily divided into two groups : " questions for 
facts " and " questions for thought." Questions for facts 
are of particular use and value in the lower grades where 
the thought power of the child is just beginning to unfold. 
As the thought power of the child grows and his development 
along this line is assured, there should be a corresponding 
substitution of the questions for thought for the questions for 
fact. The principal drawback to the method is when 
it remains composed entirely of questions for facts. These 
tend to chop the lesson up into a mass of ungraded elements 
and calls for facts Avithout showing their natural relation 
to other facts. It also too often descends to the stage of 
mere mechanical parrotlike study period and recitation that 



Accessories of the Recitation 291 

are the ruination of independence in study, thought, recita- 
tions, knowledge and afterwards in the activities of life itself. 
Everybody who studies or has studied knows that very few 
of the facts of a given lesson, section or chapter are of equal 
importance. Any system of questions for attack and mas- 
tery of these facts that cannot or does not recognize and al- 
low for this difference in importance must of necessity be 
faulty, allow of frequent error and entail much needless and 
profitless labor. Questions of fact in the study of the les- 
son tend very strongly in this direction. Because of the low 
status of the child mind they are perhaps necessary in the 
lower grades but should be abandoned as early as the develop- 
ment of the class intelligence will permit, if they are to do 
good and not harm. 

Besides the fact that these questions produce self-activity 
and even thought on the part of the child, they give him 
something definite to do, and serve to awaken in him the 
spirit and desire for achievement, when answers to them are 
found. Too, since they are concrete, they have a native 
power to awaken and enliven interest, especially when the 
interest of a long and tedious lesson would lag. These ques- 
tions should always be upon the main points of the para- 
graph or topics. Where there are subtopics or points of sec- 
ondary importance questions should indicate their presence 
as well as their relation to the main points, and discussions 
should show their value in the lesson. All study questions 
are best put on the board and perhaps hidden from view by 
a map or other device until the class is ready for them in 
order to avoid the distraction which they will cause when 
exposed to view while other matters or recitations are before 
the class. This is on the assumption that all study ques- 
tions are prepared beforehand by the teacher either at home 
before scliool or even during a study period of the pupils. 
If study questions are to do justice to the pupil and the 
lesson and give credit to the teacher, previous preparation of 
them is always necessary. Once prepared, convenience may 
demand at times that they be dictated to the pupils from 
the teacher's coTpy. Study questions become particularly 
effective if the class has been accustomed to outline work in 



292 Education in Theory and Practice 

the text. In such case the questions can be shown in their 
relation to the entire outhne. In this manner gradually 
the questions for minor facts may be omitted and by referrmg 
to the outline and the main jDoints as indicated by the ques- 
tions, the pupils may easily detect all that is important in 
the lesson and just wherein they are important. As the child 
becomes experienced in the use of questions and outlines he 
can produce both for himself and work by them now and later 
when he will have reached the point of independence in the 
schoolroom and recitation processes. This should be the 
true aim of the teacher in all of his efforts with the pupil. 
Then he will be able to direct his own studies almost entirely 
independent of the teacher. 

TJie Effect of Environmental Conditions on Study. 
Other things of importance that will contribute materially 
to the results of the study period in the school are the phys- 
ical environment of the room, the physical and mental en- 
vironment of the pupil and the condition of the tools (facts) 
with which he has to work. Anything which tends to in- 
crease the normal dissipation of energy will to that extent 
effect the capacity of the pupil for study. While all forms 
of physical defects produce a constant drain upon the 
bodily energies in the activity of the organs, the sense of 
sight is the chief source of drain in study, if defective. Bad 
light, bad ventilation, bad heating and other unfavorable 
conditions such as the accommodations of the body in the 
seat, all tend to dissipate the energy of the pupils and cause 
early fatigue in whatever form of activity body, mind or 
both, are engaged. 

In this regard the effect of the use of hard pencil and bad 
paper in the case of written exercises is worthy of notice. 
Besides the serious temporary weakening and possible per- 
manent impairment of the organs of sight by such a practice 
if continued, the immediate strain upon the eyes, in reading 
faint writing is very exhausting and would soon dissipate 
the energies of the body and make successful study impos- 
sible. Soft lead pencil writing on good paper is much better 
on the eyes than that of hard pencils. But as far as the 
eyes are concerned, experiments have shown that material 



Accessories of the Recitation 293 

written in ink is the most satisfactory study material for the 
pupils. Of these black ink used on good paper gives best 
results, closely followed by writing in heavy blue ink. Study 
of this question of favorable working instruments and favor- 
able working conditions has caused much attention also to 
be given to the matter of the quality of paper and the size 
of print used in text books. Not only are these of vital 
importance to tlie health of the pupil and to his eye sight, 
but they materially affect the study habits of the pupils. 
Pupils who must strain their eyes to make out the physical 
character on a page or must even put forth special effort 
to make them out clearly are placed at a disadvantage at the 
outset and are called upon constantly to put energy into the 
mere matter of distinguishing the characters which should 
go into the understanding of the facts of the lesson and the 
mastery of the thought elements contained in it. If both 
of these must go on during the study period the pupils soon 
become tired and exhausted long before the study period 
is over or the lesson is mastered. Those pupils who suffer 
from bad or defective eyes become exhausted even before the 
remainder of the class. 

Hovie Study. It is this guidance and supervision of study 
so necessary to young minds which is made possible by the 
presence of the teacher which gives school study the ad- 
vantage over home study. In most homes the requisite con- 
ditions of quiet together with a fitting place for study are 
generally wanting. Too, oftentimes the child is disturbed 
from his study by thoughtless parents, relatives or friends 
merely for service or convenience and less often as a means 
of discipline and punishment. Few parents know the real 
value of study to the child, while still fewer parents are able 
to aid their children in the processes of study. Of those few 
who are able to aid them only the most limited number know 
the methods best calculated to give tlie desired results in 
knowledge and in strength required for future self-direction. 
In the young from a physiological viewpoint there should be 
as little restriction upon the activity of the child outside of 
school hours as possible. For this reason lessons that will 
confine pupils or restrict their activity out of school to any 



294 Education in Theory and Practice 

great extent should not be given them. Besides that, in 
these 3^ounger ones more so than in the older pupils the 
habits of study need to be guided so that they may be 
properly performed and the child be given the proper start 
in his school work. Parents seldom have the time to give 
their children for studying with them, assuming that they 
know how to study with them properly. Again the material 
for illustration, suggestion and help available in the school 
room during the study period if it could be used skillfully 
at home by the parents, which is seldom the case, are not to 
be had generally there. So that for all of these reasons, 
namely, to secure the proper formation of habits of study, to 
have available the proper accessory illustrative material 
for study and the general supervision and direction of efforts 
in study within the time allowed for this supervision and 
direction, to be assured of some one charged with the re- 
sponsibilty of seeing to its use and the general strain and 
restriction it puts upon the child activity outside of school 
hours, the assigning of lessons for home study is to be con- 
demned especially in the lower grades and to be sanctioned 
even to a small degree only after children have advanced 
sufficiently in years and acquisition as to be practically self- 
directive and at the same time have bodies sufficiently strong 
to stand the strain and confinement incident to home study. 

REFERENCE READING 

Bagley's " Educative Process." Chaps. XIX, XXI, XXII. 

DeGarmo's " Interest in Education." Chaps. XII, XIII. 

Morgan's " Psychology for Teachers." Chap. II. 

White's " The "Art of Teaching." Chap. IX. 

Jones' " Teaching Children to Study." Chaps. VI, VII, VIII. 

Colgrove's "The Teacher and the School." Chaps. XIX, XX, XXI. 

See also references Chap. XIII — The Hearing of the Recitation. 



CHAPTER XIII 
THE HEARING OF THE RECITATION 

The Kinds of Recitations. There are two kinds of recita- 
tions, the written and the oral. Even the examination as 
conducted in the school serves as a form of the recitation. 
Both for the sake of time, which is a very important factor, 
as we have seen, in the routine processes of the schoolroom, 
and for the sake of the proper expression of ideas, which is 
paramount both in the routine processes of the schoolroom 
and in after life, the oral recitation is to be preferred in 
the classroom to the written. Another point in favor of 
the oral recitation is that it permits a free and ready ex- 
change of ideas both between pupils and between pupils and 
teacher, as well as makes easy the correction of mistakes 
either in the understanding of the text or in the expression 
of the ideas gleaned from it. 

Written recitations too, have their good points and are 
advisable at times both for the sake of variety, for the con- 
centration it brings and the intensity it gives to the mental 
processes by combining in action the sense of seeing the 
sense of hearing and sometimes the muscular sense (in writ- 
ing the exercise). Written exercises are best done on the 
black board where all may see the work and get the benefits, 
thus concentrated and intensified, of the criticism, correc- 
tion of mistakes and other helpful suggestions. The writ- 
ten recitation also may serve as an exercise in writing. 
Such an end, however, with it should only be secondary, 
especially since writing is provided for by special arrange- 
ment in the daily program. Most of the consideration there- 
fore, here will be given to the oral recitation. Where, how- 
ever, the written recitation is meant, the reader will be able 
to understand it as such from the sense of the text, if no 

special mention is made of the fact. 

295 



S9G Education m Theory and Practice 

In the recitation the teacher may have the pupils recite 
individually or he may have the class as a whole recite in 
unison. The best and pei-haps the only valid reasons for 
the class-union recitation is that it serves as a variety and 
breaks the monotony, saves the time of the class, both that 
which is lost in rising and sitting, in passing unanswered 
questions from one pupil to the other together with that 
time which is lost in the delay caused by the slow and timid 
pupils and the correction of such individual mistakes as are 
detected in the correct answers given by those members of 
the class who know the lesson. Psychologically the joint 
recitation tends to arouse the mind, stimulate it to action 
and thereby gain interest and hold the attention. However, 
while these points in favor of the class unison recitation are 
worthy of consideration, they make impossible some of the 
basic purposes in which the recitation originally was in- 
tended to serve the individuals of the class. So that as a 
continuous process of hearing the recitation the method is 
to be condemned. The recitation is for the purpose of in- 
dividual as well as class work. Teachers hear lessons more 
to learn what the student does not know than to learn what 
he does know. The class unison method reduces the obtain- 
ing of this information to a minimum. Thus it is hardly pos- 
sible in the class recitation, for example, to tell whether the 
assignment was properly understood and applied or whether 
the study period was effectively used by those pupils who 
do not know their lessons and who being aware of that fact 
may take advantage of the class recitation in unison to hide 
their faults and ignorance by either keeping their voices 
low, or by saying nothing and moving their lips in harmony 
with the class, while it is reciting. Furthermore class reci- 
tation permits inattention on the part of those members of 
the class who are inclined to inattention. Another very 
common and merited objection to it is that it disturbs the 
order of the room and of the whole building and prevents 
effective study by those classes in the room that have a study 
period, as well as of those in the building who happen to be 
studing at that time. Consequently it is rightly so that 
the class recitation should be little used, the chief time and 



The Hearing of the Recitation 297 

stress of the recitation being devoted to the individual reci- 
tation. 

The Individual Recitation. To begin with in the indi- 
vidual recitation the child should be taught to stand when 
called upon to recite. If sufficient effort is put into getting 
onto his feet it will help materially in having him put aside 
all distracting thoughts leaving him free to give his whole 
attention to the matter of the recitation. To have the pupil 
stand while reciting also tends to remove him from any evil 
influences of his environment; inasmuch as it generally puts 
him beyond the reach of his fellows, or his book, or both, 
thereby putting him entirely upon his own resources and 
compelling him to think for himself. Since, as is generally 
agreed, the attitude of the body reflects the attitude of the 
mind, it follows that slouchy, lazy, lounging attitudes of 
the body should not be tolerated in the recitation for fear 
they may beget a like attitude of mind. 

Now comes the recitation question. Much has been said 
and written about the proper time of asking the questions 
of the recitation ! Here, too, variety might be practiced 
to advantage. In fact stereotyped methods in any and all 
forms of school exercises are to be in general condemned. 
It will be found, in the recitation questions, to be productive 
of the best results, if the pupils are made to stand before the 
questions are asked them. The advantages are obvious. In 
the first place this method arouses in the pupil expectant at- 
tention in which state of mind the pupil is more likely to 
summon all of his efforts and begin to think, running through 
in his mind all of the topics and study questions of the les- 
son. It is a fact, however, that this method in some minds 
will tend to confusion and the loss of the power to think, 
the longer the period of delay the greater the helplessness 
and confusion. In these cases, which will be due to individual 
temperaments it will be best to change the method so as to 
give the pupil a chance. During the moment of expectant at- 
tention as never before the child will appreciate the need 
of having previously mastered his lesson. The question 
coming then removes him entirely from his neighborhood 
environment and the last vestige of distraction elements be- 



298 Education in Theory and Practice 

ing forced out of him, temporarily at least, leaves him free 
to devote his whole tliought power to the finding of the 
proper answer to the question. This method is very rigor- 
ous and highly disciplinary. By some it is condemned be- 
cause under it the timid and easily excited pupils become 
confused in the interim between the request to rise and pro- 
pounding of the question, whereupon all knowledge either 
" vanishes into thin air " or loses its connection in their train 
of thought thus resulting in the giving of an incorrect 
answer. There is, to be sure some justification in this plea. 
However, the validity of the other method is not to be ques- 
tioned on this account, nor its use abandoned. In general, 
it is undoubtedly the best method both for matters of the 
recitation and as a measure of discipline. Along with the 
matter of the appropriate method of asking them, it goes 
without saying that all questions should be clear, brief and 
contain but one centra 1 thought. Nothing is more con- 
fusing to any mind or more discouraging to pupils 
who have spent so much time and effort in preparing 
a lesson than to be confronted in the recitation with 
questions that are either untimely, indefinite, unclear 
or too long. Of course, from tliis it does not follow that 
questions should be mechanical, or, especially with the pupils 
of the higher grades, that they should be mere questions 
for facts, but rather questions for thought. Fact ques- 
tions rather mechanize and stagnate the mental powers, 
while thought questions arouse the mind and stimulate it to 
healthy activity. When answered nothing less than a full 
answer to the question, such an one that will indicate fully 
that the pupil has both heard and understood the ques- 
tion in detail should with justice be accepted. 

The method has been adopted in many schools of having 
the pupil so shape the answer that it will repeat the word and 
thought of the question. This method has its good quali- 
ties and may be practiced where preferred, though the method 
has been overdone and debased by many untactful and un- 
rcsourceful teachers. The only thing essential in answers 
as well as questions is that they should be full in their thought 
content as well as in their form content. The time long 



The Hearing of the Recitation 299 

method of questioning given to the teaching profession by 
Socrates and bearing his name is still in use. It is still to 
be recommended to all, though it has its shortcomings, its 
force for effectiveness depending upon the teaching qualities 
of the teacher who handles it. The Socratic method gets 
its virtue in fact almost entirely from the skill with which 
it is used. Its aim is to deprive the mind of its power by 
stripping it of its contents, show what little it contains and 
create in the mind a desire for that knowledge, which it does 
not contain and thereby excite to activity in an effort to 
acquire such knowledge. It stimulates the mind to think 
for itself. The method is to be condemned to the extent that 
it is not effective to present truth but only puts the mind in 
a position to receive truth, whereupon it must go off in 
search of it. It only draws out that which is in the mind. 
Present day methods however do not aim to stop there. 
They not only must create a conscious need for truth, but 
they must either supply it or see to it that it is supplied. 
Its duty lies more in the latter field. To effectively apply 
the art of questioning requires more than a novice. To 
be effective questions must come from those who know the 
psychological laws of association and suggestion as well 
as the laws of mind in general. Equally must the questioner 
know the subject matter both in part and in its entirety, 
and the relation which the part bears to the whole. With 
this before him tlie purpose of the lesson, just what part in 
the whole the facts of to-day's lesson are to play, what par- 
ticular gap in the student's mind is to be filled by them, can 
be readily brought out, and must be, if the purposes of the 
recitation are to be fulfilled. 

The Order of Questioning. In what order these questions 
are to be asked is the problem which is now to be considered. 
One of my teachers in college in a class of about seventy- 
five used to enroll us on specially prepared recitation card 
forms. These were arranged alphabetically. Before he had 
gone many letters down the alphabet most of the class had 
caught on to his method and proceeded to prepare their les- 
son as the Professor's progress down the line of names seemed 
to indicate that their turn would come probably in the next 



300 Education in Theory and Practice 

day's run. Just about the time the class had become settled 
down to this method the Professor without a word of warn- 
ing struck consternation into our midst one morning by 
shuffling the cards and making a new start. He went around 
the class several times that morning and had time to spare. 
The wisdom of the procedure needs little comment. The 
brighter and more honest members of the class soon found 
the safe road to good marks and ultimate promotion and 
followed it. In this connection there are many methods to 
follow in asking questions of a class in the recitation. They 
may be asked alphabetically, by the order of seating, the 
order of enrollment, their rank in the class, and other 
methods. But that is just where a grave fault lies. To 
attempt to follow any order for any length of time is unsafe 
for the best results. The most stupid and dull pupil soon 
learns such a method when employed by a teacher. In fact 
the more stupid and lazy pupils, if they do not detect such 
a method first, at least are among the first to avail them- 
selves and prepare themselves and their lessons in such a 
manner as to profit by it. Experience, and it requires very 
little, shows that calling upon pupils to recite at random, 
is always productive of the best results. Then pupils can 
conscientiously prepare each lesson expecting that he will be 
called upon more or less times to do a fair part of the class 
reciting each day. Besides this the ability to propose ques- 
tions opportunely for answers is effective in discipline and 
soon wins both the fear and respect of the pupils. The 
evil of ignoring the dull pupil in favor of the bright ones 
is a common one. Pupils should all be treated alike and given 
equal opportunity for reciting each day's lessons. They 
ought never be allowed to feel that they will in all probability 
not be called on again, or at least, not until the other mem- 
bers of the class have recited. When for example, for any 
reason disorder prevails in any section of the room giving 
out a question then and there to the pupil in disorder, or 
requiring him to take up the question where the other left 
off will serve to produce order, enforce attention and teach 
the child the need of always paying strict attention to the 
processes and progress of the recitation. The real fact is, 



Tlie Hearing of the Recitation SOI 

the effect is wholesome, if pupils can be made to feel at all 
times that they may be called upon either to begin to recite, 
to complete the unfinished recitation of another or even to 
repeat such a recitation. When such methods being em- 
ployed fail and the proper disciplinary measures follow once 
or twice it will be discovered that more attention will be de- 
voted to the recitation by all members of the class and that 
it will take on new life and show marked change for good. 

The Function of the Teacher in the Recitation. Teachers 
should never lose sight of their function in the recitation. 
To hear, correct, explain, extend and briefly supplement 
the expressed thoughts of the pupil is their whole duty. The 
recitation is not for the teacher, it is for the pupil. For 
the teacher to use it in telling what he knows of the lesson 
to the pupils is ostensibly out of order. Too, consequently, 
his language should be simple, brief and always to the point. 
To be a good listener is a trait whose quality is proverbial 
but nowhere is it more valuable than when properly exercised 
in the schoolroom by the teacher. To offer the missing 
thought or word whenever there is a pause in the flow of 
language of the child soon checks the flow entirely or sadly 
impairs it and tends to make of the otherwise industrious 
energetic pupil a lazy, lounging drone, always sufficiently 
awake to start off the recitation feeling assured that the ever 
ready teacher will finish whatever he starts out with. The 
real end of the hearing of the recitation is to test how well 
from the student's viewpoint the lesson has been assigned, 
how well studied, how well the principles of studying applied 
and how well the facts and thoughts of the lesson together 
with the words in which they are encouched have been under- 
stood. This can only be known by letting the child express 
his knowledge gained about the lesson in his own language, 
tell what he himself has gotten out of the lesson and tell it 
in his own language. It is a serious mistake for the teacher 
to allow himself to feel that he can anticipate what the child 
is going to say. He can only know what is coming from the 
pupil when tlie pupil has finished with his recitation. The 
recitation should be exact, complete and as brief as a full 
statement of it will allow. Brevity, however, in the recita- 



302 Education in Theory and Practice 

tion, is secondary and will be acquired only by practice. 
Pupils should be taught to be definite in expression of their 
thought. No answer ending in " and something like that " 
should be tolerated. Such answers if allowed have a tend- 
ency soon to break down all disposition toward exactness 
and care in the preparation of the work for the recitation. 
Time may become very pressing at times, the demand for 
speed and advancement imperative, whereupon the desire to 
assist with a word or two will almost be uncontrollable. 
Surely, the teacher may reason, just a word here or there 
to help express an idea that is known cannot do much harm. 
But if indulged in, it marks the beginning of a habit to 
help on the part of the teacher and a habit to await the 
assistance of the teacher by the pupil, both of which habits 
easily grow and ruin the best capacity for work in each. 
I know it may seem to the teacher that since the pupil knows 
the lesson and knows how to express it in the main, that one 
word has failed him, the time of the class cannot be taken 
up in this waiting and hence it will not matter if I help him 
a little. This is a common and potent argument in such 
cases, but the best thing to do is for the teacher to guide 
and direct the work, leaving the actual doing of it for the 
pupils. This will be found best for the good of the pupil 
in every way. Reason, the art of reciting, the habits of 
study of the pupils as shown above and the work of the 
recitation for the pupil are soon ruined by this method. The 
start once made, it is easy to keep up the practice. Here 
a bad habit is hard indeed to break. Soon the pupil will be 
hearing the recitation instead of the teacher and the teacher 
will be reciting instead of listening to the pupils recite. Such 
teaching is the great burden of the profession to-day. Of 
course the teacher can tell the pupil and save time for other 
work. This much is granted. But what good will the 
pupil get out of it? How much independence of action, how 
much thought activity, how much knowledge, will the pupil 
get out of it? What is happening to the pupil all of this 
time? How is the judgment of the effects of the assignment 
to be gained by this method? How is that of the study 
period? How is the teacher to know whether or not the pupil 



The Hearing of the Recitation 303 

understands the words of the text, whether or not he is grow- 
ing in power of self-direction in his study, whether or not 
his poAver of expression is developing and whether or not 
he is acquiring facts of knowledge and power of thought 
in using them? All of these are primary in the methods of 
the recitation, yes in the method of the schoolroom and of 
the whole educative process of the school, if the child is to 
be aided at all by it in his preparation for activity in the 
broader field of life. As to how much talking the teacher 
may safely do in the recitation there is now and has ever 
been a serious problem. Of the two evils how much talking 
or how little, it is pretty hard to decide which is worse. 
It is perhaps better too little than too much, though both 
are bad. However, the former is the greater evil and the 
one that needs to be most inveighed against. In general 
it might also be said that the teacher should aim to make 
his efforts tell and do his talking in the assignment and dur- 
ing the study period, while the pupil should be allowed to 
make his efforts tell in the recitation. At appropriate mo- 
ments the teacher may step in and support the child when 
he cannot help himself. But he must be well assured of this 
fact. Nor must the act be committed too often. The 
mere fact that time is pressing is no legitimate excuse for 
too much activit}'^ and talking on the part of the teacher 
during the hearing of the recitation. Indeed that is just 
why the time for hearing of the recitation is given to the 
school. To use it for the purpose of the recitation is not 
only legitimate but a necessity, for the rendition of proper 
and successful service to the public by the school and the 
teacher. 

The Favorite Subject. Other dangers to the attainment 
of good results in the recitation are the favorite pupil and 
the favorite subject or subjects. The danger which the 
favorite subjects offer is of secondary importance in the 
conduct of the recitation. They should have been properly 
disposed of by the course of study and the daily program, 
if they were properly made out and are properly followed. 
The trouble with the favorite pupil and the favorite subject 
is that they are a part of our nature and owe their existence 



S04 Education in Theory and Practice 

to the principle of individualism that runs through all animal 
life and if we are to accept the more sweeping opinion of the 
advanced scientists through both the vegetable and mineral 
kingdoms. That, therefore, we meet the problem of favor- 
ite pupils and subjects in the schoolroom need not surprise 
us in any way. Under this principle it will be natural to 
find both pupils and subjects that will interest some teachers 
more than others. This fact, however, because of the harm 
consequent in its practice in the schoolroom should not be 
allowed to enter and vitiate the work of the schoolroom. Very 
often favorite subjects have followed teachers all of the way 
through their school career and by reason of over attention 
to them they are especially proficient in them. The fact of 
its being a favorite subject is probably due to some special 
ability which they discovered they possessed in it. The op- 
posite history is probabW true of those subjects that are 
not favorite subjects. Where teachers find it necessary to 
handle the non-favorite subjects the very fact that they are 
inefficient in them should cause them not to neglect them 
either in the process of the assignment, the study period or 
the recitation. The fact should rather cause them by resolu- 
tion and effort to strive to make their efforts with them 
especially detailed, careful and resultingly successful. Nor 
should the}^ neglect those subjects in which they are more 
proficient and better prepared to handle in the processes 
of the assignment, the study period and the hearing of the 
recitation. The aim should rather be to carry them all 
along with due effort to the demands and best good of the 
individual pupil and the class as a whole. 

The Favorite Pupil. The favorite pupil is a problem of 
a slightly different nature. To begin with he is everywhere 
present. We find him in all classes and subjects. Not that 
he is the special favorite of the teacher in bestowing his 
evidences of approval, or that he is picked out for all of 
the special privileges of the scliool, though these generally 
fall to his lot. In that case it is a matter of school dis- 
cipline and government and not one of the conduct of the 
recitation. Here, it is that pupil who is particularly bright 
and apt in various ones or even in all of his subjects, who 



The Hearing of th^ Recitation 805 

learns his lessons well, understands quickly the assignment, 
knows how to use the directions of the study period, who 
learns his lessons well and quickly and expresses himself 
clearly and fully and freely. This is the favorite pu- 
pil in the hearing of the recitation. How to handle him 
best for his OAvn good and that of the class is the problem. 
When the recitation lags the teacher is inclined to use him 
to bridge over the gap, when a point in the lesson is not 
clear or incompletely brought out or only partially correct 
he is the one to be used as a means of getting the proper 
answer and thereby awaken a feeling of pride in the other 
less apt pupils of the class. This is especially true if there 
are patrons, friends or school officials present and the teacher 
wishes the class work to appear well. He is in the true 
sense the " whip " of the classroom recitation. Through 
him the teacher gets lessons recited and incidentally stimu- 
lates the other pupils to habits of study and the making of 
better recitations. 

All teachers have had their favorite pupil in this sense. 
They would hardly be human if they did not. But to treat 
him this way is the beginning of evil. Teachers owe it to 
themselves, the pupil himself and the class not to give such 
a pupil too much time, attention and consideration, either 
on special or ordinary occasions. For once such a method is 
started it is but a short step from this to the habit of ignor- 
ing the less apt pupils and giving all attention to the few 
favorite pupils, adjusting all demands of work, all remarks, 
explanations and suggestions to them and their abilities 
rather than to the general intellectual aptness and capacity 
of the class as a w^hole. In which case we have a class of 
special pupils rather than a class of pupils of various abili- 
ties each, however, developed to some degree and advanced 
to some extent in the work of the class. The problem of the 
apt or favorite pupil has led to the tendency quite prevalent 
in many school systems, but which has a good and a bad side, 
of separating the bright and dull pupils and of making of 
them separate classes. The argument justifying this pro- 
cedure is that the dull pupils are a hindrance to the bright 
ones and since the schoolroom puts a premium on self activity 



306 Education in Theory and Practice 

and individuality the proper tiling to do is to put the brighter 
pupils together in a class where they can secure the greatest 
self-activity and put forth the greatest individual effort. 
The argument, it must be admitted, has some weight, but the 
fact remains that while the dull pupil may be a drawback in 
many ways to the bright pupil he is also of material ad- 
vantage to him. His untiring effort is a good lesson in in- 
dustry and his questions and mistakes together with their 
correction by the teacher, will undoubtedly expand the knowl- 
edge of any pupil, however bright or advanced he may be. 
Besides it is a fact that the most effective work in teaching 
is done by those teachers who realize that they have a 
mediocre class which must receive their very best efforts if 
they are to make fitting progress. Consciousness on the 
part of a teacher that a class does not need care and effort 
will generally make that teacher careless and a bright class 
will soon become a dull one. 

The favorite pupil in the recitation comes in for particular 
consideration on certain occasions as has been said above. 
But though on such occasions the teacher may mean well 
by the practice, besides its being discouraging to the more 
faithful pupils and very often ruining the bright pupils by 
giving so much consideration and attention to them, the 
method is to be condemned because it does not represent in 
the pupil his ability to receive teacliing, or, to use a coined 
word it does not represent his " teachableness." To this 
extent such a pupil is not a credit to the teacher nor does 
he represent the actual ability of the class or the fruits of 
the teacher's effort with the class. Again, it is not the doing 
of the easy work that makes the man strong nor the teaching 
of the naturally bright pupils that proves the teaching 
ability of the teacher. But, just as power and skill are 
shown in the ability with which the mechanic performs the 
difficult tasks, so teaching is evident only in getting good 
results out of mediocre students. The fact is that if any 
members of the class above all others need the attention and 
efforts of the teacher constantly in the recitation, it is the 
mediocre and lazy pupils. The bright ones will generall}' 
take care of themselves. 



The Hearing of the Recitation 307 

Nor is the habit of teaching for the " average pupil," so 
often recommended, best. The efforts of the teacher should 
by all means be directed toward the individual pupil and the 
work arranged for his benefit and advancement. In actual 
practice there is no average pupil, but there are individual 
pupils. The recitation is for the whole class and the ques- 
tions should be so shaped and the answers to them so given 
that all may profit by them. The same should hold true of 
all explanations, suggestions, references, explanations and 
facts added by the teacher. Questions should be passed 
around to all alike and all should be forced to take an active 
interest and part in the recitation. Questions should be 
asked and answers given in the ordinary tone of voice, but 
clear and distinct. Repetition should be avoided, the pupils 
being given to understand at the outset that they must give 
close attention and " catch " the question when it is first 
asked. The habit of repeating questions besides losing much 
valuable time that should be given to the recitation en- 
courages the pupils in not giving attention. No ends ac- 
ceptable to the basic principles of education can justify any 
other method of treating the pupils in the hearing of the 
recitation. The questions of the teacher in the first place 
should open the child's mind for the reception of the answers 
given and the facts should be so given as to satisfy the de- 
mand thus created. There have been innumerable methods 
devised for the successful hearing of the recitation. The 
teacher who is enthusiastic and aggressive will acquaint him- 
self Avith the major portion of these through the study and 
reading of such professional literature as will point out to 
him the more common methods out of which he can select 
those that appeal to him as most practical for his own use. 
Teachers should be conversant with many methods so as to 
be able readily to vary methods, thus keeping up interest 
and stimulating memory. For the best results in the life arid 
interest of the class and the conservation of time, speed in 
movements, in thinking and speaking are essential both in 
the asking and answering of questions in the recitation. 
Then, too, sloth and sluggishness here soon lead to a like 
state in the mind whereby the whole aim of the recitation 



808 Education in Theory and Practice 

is weakened if not entireW annulled. Looking to this end 
care should be taken that lesson assignments are not too 
long. Nothing is more detrimental to successful recitation 
processes than long lessons. The quick movements and quick 
answers require in their execution and utterance greater 
concentration of energy and more intense discharge of it. 
This Avill tend to exhaust more rapidly the available energy 
when the recitation lags and the effects having been Av^eakened 
are neither strong nor permanent in the association they form 
nor the suggestion they arouse. 

Copying and Cheating. Crime exists in the world not so 
much because men are bad by nature as because they are 
weak and selfish. Life as an active striving process is a 
bundle of desires. Desires crave satisfaction in the yearn- 
ing of the soul which they beget, they disturb the mental, 
moral and physical equilibrium and impel to that form of 
conduct in which intelligence sees the possibility of gaining 
the object of desires and by its satisfaction of restoring 
the body again to a state of equilibrium. For this reason 
only such punitive systems are justified which either satisfy 
the desire legitimately, divert them into channels where le- 
gitimate satisfaction of the desire is possible or remove the 
desire entirely. Those desires which men cannot satisfy 
by their honest efforts they either curtail or satisfy by dis- 
honest efforts. This is the philosophy of crime both in the 
3'oung and in the old. The stronger the will power and the 
keener the intellect the less disposed is the individual to 
crime, for he can both see the effects in consequences of his 
crime and will thereby become stronger to control his action. 
Equally true is it that the more of his desires he can natur- 
ally and legitimately satisfy the less is their demand upon 
him for illegitimate satisfaction, namely for crime. 

Now, the chief crime that the teacher has to deal with in 
the recitation is that of cheating and copying. Investiga- 
tion shoAvs that cheating is done by pupils who do not know 
their lessons and cannot answer the questions and do the 
work of the recitation without assistance from others. While 
the teacher should by all means possible strive to break up 
the practice of copying and cheating, he should also strive 



Tlie Hearing of the Recitation 309 

to find out the cause of it and remove it, remembering that 
until he can do this it is safer to have the pupils understand, 
that it is much better for them to get the help openly from 
him than to seek it secretly from others. The teacher can 
help in a way to open the avenues of self help for the pupil, 
for pupils do not know often of means of self help nor do 
they realize the dangers that lurk in their own methods of 
prompting one another and of giving to and of receiving aid 
from one another. The cause of the lack of knowledge of 
the pupil of the subject matter of the lesson either is laziness 
and lack of application, some form of physical weakness such 
as impediment of speech, or of mind such as slowness, timidity, 
bashfulness or lack of understanding of the words of the 
text, the assignment of the lesson or the proper use of the 
study period. If it happens to be laziness that has placed 
him in the position of not having gotten his lesson then a 
corrective means either punitive or disciplinary should be 
applied. However, it will not do for the teacher to con- 
clude too hastily that it is due to laziness on the part of 
the pupil. Even when the cause has been found to be lazi- 
ness oftentimes upon examination the methods of the teacher 
will be found to have been contributory to that laziness 
rather than to have detracted from it. Oftentimes again, 
various forms of physical defects hidden in the inner physical 
structure of the child may be a contributing cause, or some 
form of inherent weakness or secret malady may cooperate to 
sap the energy and vitality of the pupil, though the general 
bodily appearance and attitude of the child may be expected 
generally to betray such early, when present. Affections 
of the eye and the ears are particularly contributory to bad 
work in the school and especially in the recitation. When- 
ever careful observation of the pupils fails to disclose any 
of these shortcomings and the teacher still has reason to 
believe that they exist he should call in professional assist- 
ance on the one hand for the pupil and look carefully into 
himself to see if the trouble does not lie within himself. A 
little care in the technique of the assignment, a little special 
supervision during the study period and perhaps a revision 
of the study questions according to the prescribed principles 



310 Education in Theory and Practice 

together with the putting forth of special effort to draw 
the pupil out more fully during the hearing of the recitation, 
if it does not cure the trouble will at least point it out so 
definitely that the teacher can then more readily form and 
apply methods to overcome the fault. The use of objects 
and other illustrative material, such as maps, pictures, etc., 
since they possess natural powers of clarifying knowledge 
can often be employed in these cases to advantage. 

Examinations and Reviews. Memory and retention de- 
pend largely upon the clearness, vividness and repetition 
of the original stimuli ; whether they be mere sense disturb- 
ances, newly given perceptions or recently created concep- 
tions. The especial process of repetition known to the reci- 
tation is the review. The purpose of the review in the recita- 
tion is to recall and fasten in the mind the facts of former 
lessons, connect them together and bind them into a whole 
based upon definite relations. Inasmuch as the early im- 
pressions in the young are light and the paths of nervous 
discharge for various stimuli shallow and often but poorly 
formed they are easily removed and lost track of in the 
stress of responding and forming paths of discharge for the 
inroad of new stimuli unless they are retained and made 
permanent by renewed discharges by means of reviews. Too, 
the molecular combinations resulting from the ideas in the 
minds of the young as translation of the molecular motion 
started by the external stimuli along the paths of discharge 
are particularly unstable and unless they are made deeper 
and more stable by repetition soon under the tendency to 
break up and form new combinations lose their force of at- 
traction and disintegrate. These are the ph3^siological justi- 
fications of reviews. Pedagogically speaking, a part of each 
da3^'s recitation period should be given over to the review in 
order to prepare the pupil's mind for the reception of the 
advance lesson and provide a fitting opportunity for con- 
necting the facts of the new lesson with those of the past 
lessons. The further on the class is, the more general and 
more important the facts brought forward each day in the 
review become. The importance of reviews especially where 
outlines are not available is always to be noted and suf- 



The Hearing of the Recitation 311 

ficient time in the program allowed for them. In reviews, 
however, only the thought and the most important thought 
at that can receive time and attention. The descriptive de- 
tails that serve the purpose only of accentuating or making 
clear the facts need receive in review no more than passing 
consideration, even if that. Care must be taken in the 
review, however, that the pupils do not become weary or that 
the facts of the review lessons become common and thereby 
repulsive thus begetting indifference to them on the part of 
the pupils. 

Reviews if allowed to affect pupils in this way are perhaps 
worse than no review at all, tending as it will to decrease 
the desire for knowledge and decrease the effort toward self 
activity. Child mind especially, tires very rapidly of that 
which has become familiar. It demands ever the new to 
excite interest, gain and hold the attention. This is particu- 
larly true where the reviews involve going over the pages 
of the text again and again. Carelessness in preparation, 
indifference to the work of the lesson and general discour- 
agement are very prominent dangers to this kind of re- 
view. Of course, only chiefly the old facts can be brought 
out in the review, otherwise it would not be a review. To 
meet this demand in the young for something new, however, 
the old facts can be presented in new ways, illustrated by 
new material (intellectual), by the outline or other devices 
of the teacher and thus made pleasing, interesting and ef- 
fective. In this way, too, variety can be introduced at any 
time whereby the facts of the text will not lose their spici- 
ness and power to awaken interest and hold attention. Both 
reviews and examination show the teacher how well his work 
of outlining the text, making the assignment, directing the 
work of the study hour, providing the study question, ask- 
ing the questions of the recitation and explaining and sup- 
plementing the thoughts of the pupils have been done, 
wherein he has failed, what is necessary to be repeated and 
what avoided in the future for improvement and permanence 
in the class work, the recitation. The advantage of exam- 
inations over reviews is gained by the fact that more time 
is given to them, they are written, represent more fully the 



81^ Education in Theory and Practice 

detailed reflective and retentive powers of the individual 
pupil and afford opportunity for detailed study, by the 
teacher, of the good and bad side of his methods, besides 
bringing to the surface other little faults in spelling, writing 
general diction and misunderstanding both of the sense and 
words of teacher and text. 

" Th€ Aim of the Recitation." The usual methods of im- 
parting knowledge are through books in the general sense of 
the term, by formal lectures, various forms of explanation, 
a proper use of questions, by direct observation, experiment 
or experience or by a combination of any two or more of 
these methods. The aim of the recitation in so much as it 
is the crowning point of the school process and in relation 
to which all other processes are merely secondary and con- 
tributory, is co-extensive with the aim of the school and 
that of the educative process itself. To attempt to enumer- 
ate and discuss all or even most of them here would carry 
the work far beyond its intended scope. The mention and 
brief discussion of a few of these, the most important, how- 
ever, will not be amiss here. Generally speaking the aim of 
the school is to put into the possession of the child the knowni 
instrum.ents of civilized man and to give him skill and power 
in their use. The immediate process by which more than 
any other it is sought to accomplish this end is the recita- 
tion. Consistent with this view the aim of the recitation 
first of all is to prepare the child's mind specifically to re- 
ceive knowledge, to impart to it knowledge and to train him 
how to use and acquire knowledge independently for himself. 
Or, stated somewhat differentl}', the recitation aims to give 
new knowledge, to connect tliis new knowledge to old knowl- 
edge and thereby extend the latter, and to enable the ap- 
plication of knowledge to the practical aff^airs of life by 
furnishing a supply of good habits in physical and mental 
movements. One author states the aim of the recitation 
as being " to give knowledge in the arts ; power in knowl- 
edge getting and knowledge using; knowledge of how to treat 
our bodies ; how to treat our fellows, how to be mentally and 
physically happy ; how to shape and attain ideals ; how to 
reach truth." Another offers the following as the chief aim 



The Hearing of the Recitation 313 

of the recitation ; " to arouse class interest ; to accomplish 
class work; to effect advance in work; to promote inde- 
pendent work ; to secure power of expression ; to exercise the 
mind." To these aims might be added the ones, to organize 
ideas and provide individuality in thought and action. Here 
is undoubtedly a variety of purposes for the recitation in 
its entirety to serve. It can hardly be doubted but that it 
does to a considerable extent serve these ends. Indeed it 
serves these, as has been said, and many others. However, 
the best that may be said for all of these aims is that they 
emphasize, if indeed emphasis be necessary, very decidedly, 
the great importance of the recitation and the very impera- 
tive need that it and all of its accessories conjointly and in 
detail be carefully administered if the work of the whole 
school is not to fail, and the time, energy and money of all 
who contribute either directly or indirectly both parent, 
child and citizen to the efforts to provide educational op- 
portunity for the child and place him under the control of 
the best educational processes be not used in vain. Having 
considered the aim of the recitation we now pass to the steps 
of the recitation. 

The Steps of the Recitation. Some authors give as the 
steps of the recitation preparation, presentation, analysis, 
abstraction and application. Others give preparation, 
presentation, association, comparison, generalization and 
practical application. Still others shorten or extend this 
list b}'^ addition to or omission from it. All of these steps 
have been foreshadowed in the previous discussions of the 
chapter on the " Accessories of the Recitation " and the 
earlier part of this chapter. They are more or less familiar 
to the whole educational world and also generally in use by it. 
They are more suggestive in use than mandatory. The 
essentials of them should be followed in every recitation, 
but to attempt to adhere too rigidl}' to them in practice 
would so mechanize the recitation as to reduce its effective- 
ness. The purpose of the first step, namely, the preparation 
both of the teacher's mind by the teacher becoming thor- 
oughly conversant with the facts of the lesson, in their re- 
lations with the preceding and succeeding lessons and the 



314 Education in Theory and Practice 

mind of the pupil for the reception of the facts of the les- 
son, in order that he may easily and readily comprehend 
it, is to be gained by the refreshing of the teacher's mind with 
the nature and relation of the facts and that of the pupil 
with the facts learned in the past lessons, their connection 
with those to come and their relation to the entire subject 
as treated in the text and given in the outline. The un- 
prepared teacher is like a ship at sea without a rudder, 
unable to make the shore, wandering helplessly about 
embarrassed by her helplessness yet unable to make progress 
in the lesson. A state of unpreparedness in the teacher be- 
fore his class is wholly inexcusable and fraught with every 
evil misfortune common to the school. To attempt to sow 
the seeds of fact in the lesson in the unprepared soil of the 
child's mind is almost equally costly. The preparation of 
the child's mind however for the recitation is practically 
accomplished in the assignment, if the assignment were prop- 
erly made. It depends for its force chiefly upon the laws 
of memory, oftentimes called the laws of association, sug- 
gestion or simularity, whereby in the mental processes like 
tends to recall like; contrast, whereby opposites tend to 
recall each other; contiguity whereby the perception of 
things related in time and space tend to recall each other in 
the mental processes, etc., etc. As was said above the 
preparation particularly in as far as it refers to the child's 
mind indicates what is in it and what is in the lesson, shows 
the relation of the two and indicates why and wherein the 
contents of the lesson will tend to some degree to satisfy 
this apparent need. The teacher's preparation besides mak- 
ing known to him all of these facts before the recitation, 
permits him to devise means of bringing out clearly and im- 
pressing forcibly these facts upon the minds of the pupils, 
both naturally and by the use of such artificial means as may 
be available in the equipment of the school. 

Presentation. The matter of presentation applies here 
only to the presentation of the facts of the lesson to the 
pupils by the teacher. It is a matter of considerable im- 
portance. Logically it follows the preparation of the child's 
mind for the reception of the facts of the lesson. To be 



The Hearing of the Recitation 315 

properly done therefore it is highly essential that the lesson 
be so presented as to show clearly to the pupil that the les- 
son does either wholly or in part fulfill the demand which 
the preparation showed existed in the chain of facts that 
goes to make up their knowledge. Just as the preparation 
of the student for the facts of the recitation come in the 
assignment so the presentation first appears in the study 
period. In the presentation all of the technique and general 
principles of the recitation, the relation of the whole to the 
part as well as the general laws of conception must be known 
and carefully followed. Brevity, clearness, force in state- 
ment of facts and the general fitness of the mind together 
with the meaning of the words of the teacher and of the 
text must be well understood. The next four steps of the 
recitation, namely, analysis, comparison, abstraction and 
generalization are truly steps in the recitation proper. 
Proper analysis assumes that the pupil has a thorough 
knowledge of the material of the lesson, its relation to that 
which is past and to some extent to that which is to come, 
also the proper disposition of the facts of the lesson in their 
natural relation with the facts of the past and the future 
lessons. Thus are natural causal chains established in 
thought and the new properly assimilated connected with 
the old and stored away according to the fundamental laws 
of the operations of the mind. Knowledge, then, becomes in 
the true sense the possession of the mind. 

Analysis is highly complex and can only be done when there 
is full mastery of the lesson. It is, therefore, a stage in 
mental progress whose attainment is worth the best efforts 
of any teacher. Comparison follows naturally as the re- 
sult of analysis. For before analysis can be completed by 
the proper storing awa}^ of the facts of the recitation in 
their proper places, which are determined by the natural 
relation, each of the parts appearing in the analysis must 
be compared in order that the true relation existing between 
them can be discovered and the new facts stored away on 
the basis of this discovered relation, where, when the par- 
ticular mental process is initiated they return to conscious 
processes under the control of the laws of association, or, as 



816 Education in Theory and Practice 

they are commonly called, the laws of suggestion. Abstrac- 
tion also may be regarded as a cotemporary process with 
analysis as well as an outgrowth from it. It is cooperative 
with comparison in that when the facts in their parts are 
compared those which fall together by natural internal rela- 
tions are drawn off from the others and set up by themselves. 
Its special use is to lead to some general principle or law 
by the processes known to logic as induction. It may also 
be used as a process in leading to deductions. This process 
of abstraction enables the drawing apart and separation of 
the individual facts upon which their clear definite arrange- 
ment is based. Abstraction works oppositely by the process 
of deduction, whereby the separate facts of the lesson are 
subsumed under general principles or laws already learned 
and accepted. The principle of abstraction is also one of 
the highest powers of the mind and as such should receive the 
constant attention and efforts toward development by the 
teacher. Suggestive questions given to the pupils after the 
facts of the lesson have been mastered may lead to abstract 
tion either by induction or deduction. This becomes particu- 
larly easy if the pupil is allowed to use his own language and 
discover the laws under guidance from the teacher. To be 
of value the pupil should be encouraged to discover the law 
for himself and not have it pointed out to him. This last 
process is what is sometimes called generalization. 

The last step of the recitation — practical application of 
the facts of the recitation — is supposed to give the child 
practical working efficiency with the knowledge content of 
the lesson. In this step he is supposed to know the relative 
value of the facts of the lesson and be shown how to apply 
them in life. To bring about this most effectively the facts 
of the lesson must be applied to new examples, to other cases 
not coming without the restrictions of the lesson text. Espe- 
cially is it necessary to establish a relation between the prin- 
ciples and the problems of daily life, whereby it may be ob- 
served by the pupil wherein the school may and does prepare 
one for the practical duties of life. Let this be done and 
the school will have achieved a great service for the pupil, 
the state and humanity. The lesson steps should beget in- 



The Hearing of the Recitation 817 

dividuality in action and power of self assertiveness. Know- 
ing the facts in their relations of the part to the whole and 
the part to the part, the pupil is capable the more easily of 
breaking them down and rearranging them for any mental 
process which he contemplates performing. He can gather 
new knowledge, assimilate it to the old, initiate and originate 
thoughts by recombination of the old and new into different 
or new relations, judge society and modify his acts accord- 
ing to the judgments of society. He can express himself with 
force, accuracy and speed, learn the truth, shape and direct 
his actions in life so as to attain his life's ideals. 

As was said above, however, these steps cannot be followed 
mechanically with any hope of success. They must be modi- 
fied, omitted and combined as the circumstances will demand. 
Above all there must be variety in the combination and use 
of the steps of the recitation. Nothing prosaic and mechan- 
ical in their use will bring satisfactory results. For here 
above all else variety is the spice of life and sameness or the 
absence of variety will destroy the living activity that alone 
insures results. 

REFERENCE READING 

King's "Education for Special Efficiency." Chap. XIV. 
Bagley's "The Educative Process." Chaps. XXI, XXII, 
DeGarrao's " Interest in Education." Chaps. VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, 

XIII, XIV. 
Greenwood's " Principles of Education." Chaps. IV, V, VI. 
Bolton's "Principles of Education." Chaps. XII, XVI. 
Baldwin's " Psychology Applied to the Art of Teaching." Chap. 

XXVIII. 
Compayre's " Psychology Applied to Education." Chap. X. 
Rosenkranz's " Philosophy of Education." Chap. IX. 
Morgan's " Psychology for Teachers." Chap. II. 
Miinsterberg's " Psychology and the Teacher." Chap. XIX. 
^Vhite's " Art of Teaching." Chap. XII. 
Arnold's "School and Class Management" Chap. Ill, Sect. V; Chap. 

V, Sect. VI; Chap. X, Sect. VI; Chap. VII, Sect. II. 
King's " Social Aspects of Education." Chap. XIX. 
Colgrove's "The Teacher and the School." Chaps. XVIII, XVII. 
Bransons' " Page's Theory and Practice of Teaching." VII, VIII, IX. 
Rowland's "Practical Hints for Teachers." Chap. XVII. 



CHAPTER XIV 
PSYCHOLOGIC PROCESSES IN EDUCATION 

Since the teacher deals with the child mind endeavoring 
to train and develop it, if he hopes to have any success 
worthy of mention crown his efforts it is highly essential 
that he acquaint himself with the nature of the child mind, 
and most especially should he get acquainted with its laws 
and processes of action. For this end it is not necessary 
that the teacher should know theoretical psychology nor even 
practical psychology in all of its details though the more 
knowledge he had with both of these the better would he be 
able to guide, direct and control the child in the various 
school processes. However, it goes without saying that if 
the child mind is understood in the general detail of its 
progressive unfolding, both the quality of work and the 
quantity of work during the various periods of life of which 
the child is capable can be known definitely and the processes 
of the schoolroom including the daily program, the course 
of study, the assignment of the lesson and the hearing of 
the recitation all can be arranged so as to be more nearly 
in accord with the natural processes of the mind. Mere 
casual observation has shown that under certain natural 
unrestricted conditions the child mind works long and with 
evident pleasure. It is chiefly, because of this fact, when he 
is introduced into the school processes and does not usually 
work long, diligently or with apparent pleasure, that the 
school has set out in the method of nature to bring into the 
schoolroom its knowledge of men in order that the ends of 
society may be achieved by nurture with at least equal if 
not more prolonged diligence and enduring pleasure than 
are to be found in the like processes of nature. 

The school sought long and wide for the trouble until it 

318 



Psychologic Processes in Education 319 

happily found that the difficulty lay chiefly in the difference 
in method between nature in the world and nurture in the 
schools. Since, then, the school bends all of its efforts in 
teaching to the reduplicating of the methods of nature in 
the methods of nurture, it has led to and made imperative 
on the part of the teacher and those charged with the re- 
sponsibility of administering the functions of the school a 
careful study of the laws of growth, development and action 
of the mind, that is, has led to the study of psychology. 
In view of this co-dependence of pedagogy and psychology a 
treatise upon the one would hardly be considered complete 
without at least a brief discussion and description of the 
more general operations of mind immediately concerned in 
the processes of teaching and instruction. We shall, there- 
fore, divert at this point and include a brief discussion of 
the more general and essential mental processes concerned in 
the work of the school. 

The Sensorium. The mental life clearly defined as such 
when analysed for its lowest and simplest components above 
the stage of hazy semiconsciousness, is found to begin in 
the form of an excitation. The stages of development then 
lead first to sensations and from these on they pass succes- 
sively into perception, conception, imagination, judgment and 
reasoning, together with the accessory stages or concomitant 
states and principles evident in interest, attention, memory, 
repetition, acquisition, association, with feeling and willing 
as co-equal forms of these mental activities. The intellectual 
value of excitation and sensation depends upon tlie nervous 
structure of the body which in its component parts make 
up the physical fabric of the senses. Collectively consid- 
ered, this physical nerve-fabric constitutes what students of 
psychology commonly call the sensorium. This term is in- 
tended to include all of the various special senses of the body, 
whether they be accepted as the five senses known to physi- 
ology for some several centuries — sight, hearing, tasting, 
smelling and touch, — or wliether they be accepted as these 
plus the three or more added and pretty generally recog- 
nized to-day as valid, namely, the sense of weight, pressure, 
temperature and muscular tension (muscular action) or 



820 Education m Theory and Practice 

whether even they be extended so as to include all of the 
theoretical and speculative senses as proposed by sohie of 
the more recent authorities. 

These senses are located, especially in various parts of 
the body, or generally diffused either on the external surfaces 
or permeate the various tissues and bony framework. They 
are connected with the intellectual center, the brain by the 
nerves of the body to which they owe their entire efficiency 
of action. These nerves are the routes of travel and means 
of communication between the world within the body (the 
thought-world) and the world without (the material world). 
Upon their proper functioning depends the entire mental con- 
tent and working efficiency of the individual. All knowledge 
of whatever sort is built up either directly or indirectly 
out of the material furnished by the stimulation of the 
senses being carried to the brain by molecular motion in the 
nerves. The physical condition of the child upon entering 
school and during the school processes, the general capacity 
of his sense apparatus for receiving, transmitting and re- 
sponding to stimuli must be of a high order if the school 
and the teacher are to succeed in their efforts with and upon 
him. They are of paramount importance so far as the 
schoolroom and its intellectual processes are concerned. 

The great number and form of defects both natural and 
accidental with which a child may be afflicted and thereby 
be reduced to a lower degree of mental efficiency are too 
numerous to receive even mention here. But they do exist 
and do materially affect the standing of such pupils in the 
classroom work. The practice generally in vogue in coun- 
tries advanced in educational theory and practice, such as 
Germany and France and being at present introduced into 
the more advanced American schools, of having attendant 
physicians either constantly or periodically visiting the 
schools and examining the pupils in their work, is a step to 
be highly commended in connection with the matter of 
physical defects and efficiency in schoolroom work. Often- 
times these defects though seriously hampering the work of 
the pupils are of such a nature that they successfully for 
long periods escape detection by the unprofessional eye. 



Psychologic Processes in Education 321 

leaving the pupil to drag on wearily through his work unable 
to do the work satisfactoril}^, despaired of by his parents 
and often abused and mistreated by both parents and teacher 
and held in low regard hy his schoolmates, merely because 
his afflictions are not known and the suffering and incon- 
venience as well as loss of mental and physical energy they 
entail upon him, are unappreciated. It is also known that 
there are pupils of high nervous tension whose peripheral 
sense apparatus and nervous system respond to the slightest 
stimulation on the one hand, and pupils of low nervous ten- 
sion on the other hand whose peripheral sense apparatus 
and nervous system respond only to strong stimulation. 
Between these extremes are to be found pupils ranging up 
and down the scale from one limit to the other. Diseases 
of various natures contribute to intensify or lessen the de- 
gree of nervous tension. Foods and feeding, sleep and 
methods, places and time of sleeping and other general 
habits of health all add to or detract from the general nervous 
tension of the system. 

Also as was stated above the physical comfort of the child 
in the schoolroom as affected by the lighting, heating, venti- 
lating and seating, all have their due effect upon the nervous 
tension of the child, dissipate more or less his nervous energy 
and reduce his working efficiency. For these conditions the 
teacher should always be on the lookout. Knowledge of 
the home, of the sleeping and feeding of a pupil, of the de- 
gree of the general nervous tension of his body will all aid 
in giving the teacher the understanding of his various inabili- 
ties in the school processes and help him in devising means 
of reaching the pupil. Students of low nervous temperament 
will respond less readily to the stimuli of the recitation, and 
the molecular motion involved in the grouping of molecules 
to form ideas in such will be less intense, and the paths of 
discharge will less deeply impress the molecular arrange- 
ment of brain cells, thus making them less permanent in their 
combination, causing the facts they represent in thought to 
be retained neither so long nor so clearly. Thus memory 
will be bad, conceptions unclear and not permanent. On 
the other hand the opposite will be true of those of high 



322 Education in Theory and Practice 

nervous tension and with those of few physical defects or 
entirely free from them. 

The Important Senses in the Educative Processes. Those 
senses with which we are mostly concerned in educational proc- 
esses are those of seeing and hearing and in the lower classes 
where object teaching is a prominent part of the exercises 
and drills that of touching. Of these three the sense of 
hearing is perhaps the most important in the lower grades, 
where the pupils are dependent on the instructions and guid- 
ance of the teacher for their learning. As they grow older 
and more independent and proficient in the school exercises 
and pass from form subjects to content subjects they are 
more dependent upon the sense of sight. The sense of seeing 
is perhaps rightly regarded as primary genetically as well 
as fundamentally in all sense of activity. Too, it might be 
claimed that pupils learn even in their elementary work 
more by seeing than by hearing, it might even be satisfac- 
torily proved that they do. But what is meant here is that 
although they may see more and indeed more that is valuable 
in the educative processes, it cannot become fully available 
nor to any great degree available except under the guidance 
and direction of the teacher, who must depend for his im- 
parting of knowledge and explanation necessary to its un- 
derstanding upon the sense of hearing for his efforts reach- 
ing the brain and acting as stimuli to the mental processes. 
The demand for and use of the sense of touch in teaching is 
of comparative recent creation. It will gain more and more 
in use in education as object teaching comes into increased 
use in teaching. 

Interest and Attention. The process of perception and 
conception do not require detailed discussion here inasmuch 
as all that is necessary to be said about them can with equal 
ease and convenience be brought under the heads of interest 
and attention, memory and imagination, a knowledge of 
which, because of their direct influence upon the results of 
the teacher's efforts is of primary importance to all who 
would have any degree of success in educational work crown 
their efforts. Interest and attention are absolutely in-^ 
dispensable in the ^ork pi the school. Attention is neces-^ 



Psychologic Processes in Education 323 

sary in all forms of intellectual life, but interest is necessary 
for attention. There is no way to make progress, or suc- 
ceed in the schoolroom without them. Though it is a fact 
that interest and attention arc both aspects of one mental 
fact, namely, acquisition. Of the two, however, interest is 
by far the more important in educational matters. The fact 
is, attention is impossible as a continuous act without in- 
terest. Will may, to be sure, direct the mind to some object 
or person, or the performance of some act and it can do this 
for an indefinite number of times. But we are referring to 
the direct continued activity of the mind and as far as it is 
concerned the will cannot control or influence the prolonging 
of its activity. The efforts of the will begin and end with 
directing the mind. Unless the mind once it is directed to 
some object (end) is held there by some power inherent in 
the object, that is, unless some interest in the object is 
aroused in the mind by that object when the mind is directed 
to it Avhich holds it and stimulates it to action, there is and 
can never be by the very nature of the case any conscious act 
of knowing as such. Fortunately for us all in this state of 
affairs the matter of interests is to a great extent looked 
after by nature, though in education the interests of nature 
must often be supplanted or aided by those of nurture (arti- 
fice). There are then two kinds of interests, the native and 
the acquired interests. Of the two, for civilized man, the 
acquired are perhaps the more important. Especially is this 
true in the case of those minds who believe tliat nature is 
imperfect, that art by surpassing nature improves upon it 
and that advancement is from the imperfect to the perfect, 
from nature to God. The native interests are primary and 
form the substratum, the stock in trade upon which the 
business of the acquired interests is aroused and developed. 
Just as the race has passed in its life history from the na- 
tive interests to the acquired interests (if we are to accept 
ITacckel's law of phylogenesis) so the individual passes in his 
own life history from the native interests to the acquired in- 
terests. Just as in the early racial experience native interests 
were primary and ruled mental processes, so in the early in- 
dividual experience native interests control mental activity, 



SS,'^ Education in Theory and Practice 

so also in the history of the race and individual, acquired 
interests rule even at times to the complete exclusion of na- 
tive interests. The younger the child the more will his mental 
activity be due to native interests while the older the person 
the more do acquired interests govern his mental conduct. 
The native interests upon which as a foundation in education 
the teacher aims to build are the interests in movement, in 
novelty, in color, in living things and later on in life, in sex 
matters a.nd finally in human affairs. When the child comes 
to the teacher his native interests are already pretty well 
determined for him, both by his family and individual ex- 
periences, those that are prenatal as well as those that are 
post natal. Every individual has his own native interests 
stamped into his ps^^chical being when he is bom, either in 
actualit}' or in a state of potentiality. These are determined 
by his ancestral experiences now become structural and trans- 
missible by heredity. To these interests are added through- 
out life those interests created for him by his own individual 
experiences. These are constant within certain limits for all 
human beings. Beyond these limits the}^ vary infinitely. 

Here is the problem of the teacher to find out what are 
these variable quantities (interests) in each pupil and use 
them as a basis for his instruction. He must, of course, 
judge them when found, cultivate the good, divert those that 
are capable of becoming good and root out those that have 
too much of the evil in them to be of service in the classroom 
work. Since the end of civilization is often against nature 
many things which tend to civilize man will have no direct 
interest for the child. The burden for the teacher here is 
to connect the uninteresting to that which is by nature in- 
teresting until some interest is cultivated in it. In this the 
principle of association is the key that opens the door to 
the soul of the child. Objects not interesting in themselves 
may become interesting through association with objects that 
already have in them intrinsic interests either native or ac- 
quired. Apart from tjiose native things of interest to us 
all, we possess an interest in things which experience has 
proved give us pleasure. Tliis is probably because of the 
close and fundamental association of objects of pleasure 



Psychologic Processes in Education 325 

with the maintenance of life. " Pleasure promotes and ex- 
pands life, pain contracts and annuls life." Herbert 
Spencer wrote " Every laugh extends life, every tear shortens 
it.'* We are directly interested in, and our interests may be 
aroused by objects of bodily welfare, objects of familiarity 
in person or place, objects that have been related to us in 
the past or that we know are to be related to us in the future 
(providing we can be made to see and feel in some degree 
the extent to which they will affect us and the result that 
this relation will have upon us). We are also naturally and 
artificiall}^ interested in objects that contribute to our in- 
tellectual growth. 

Here is a whole category of means of arousing interest in 
the pupils in the classroom work and of holding their atten- 
tion for varying periods of time. A teacher acquainted with 
them has endless means at his command to arouse interest 
and hold the attention of his pupil. All children, even the 
dullest drones, have living interests in school and its proc- 
esses as well as outside of the school and its processes. If 
the teacher will persistently seek them and bring them to 
bear in the work of the school he will see new effects wrought 
as if by a magic wand. Special attention is called to that 
group of interests centered in objects of intellectual growth. 
Cliildren can all be interested to more or less extent in things 
they know and can do well. To what extent they sow this 
interest and the length of the period during which it is main- 
tained will depend upon the way in which the teacher handles 
the pupil and the subject matter. This interest may be used 
by the teacher until others are found and then they all may 
be combined according to the abilit}^ and entliusiasm of tlie 
teacher and made the powerful instrument in education that 
they are intended to be. 

Attention. As to the kinds of attention, in common ver- 
nacular we speak of close attention, absorbed attention and 
rapt attention. From another viewpoint these may be 
regarded as the degrees of attention. In scientific circles, 
especially in professional literature on the subject we are 
accustomed to the terms voluntary and involuntary atten- 
tion, to wliich it is deemed necessary for the nature of the 



326 Education in Theory and Practice 

treatment here to add expectant attention. Attention may 
vary in extent, intent, duration, range and degree. The 
question of the number of things to which the mind can at- 
tend at one time arises at this point. But we pass the dis- 
cussion as irrelevant here and delegate the determination of 
it to the field of psychology. As far as the art of teaching 
is concerned experience has taught that in dealing with child 
mind in connection with the facts of the lesson it is at least 
safest and best if not essential that we treat the mind with 
the assumption that it cannot successfull}^ attend to more 
than one thing at a time. The distraction of referring or 
perhaps better recurring constantly from one line of thought 
to another together with tlie amount of energy thus steadily 
used, soon tells upon the general vitality of the child by 
using up very rapidly all of his available supply of energy. 
Not only has experience in the schoolroom thus solved the 
problem but it has also proved that only by constantly re- 
curring to the same thing from day to day by way of repeti- 
tion as in review can the child be gotten to retain the most 
essential facts of the lesson. Pedagogy has for a long time 
been convinced also that not only must the young mind not 
work for too long a spell at a time, too intensively nor too 
extensively, but that the range in study must be strictly lim- 
ited to one thing at a time and indeed in most cases to 
only one phase of that subject at a time. Mental energy 
varies in intensity in direct proportion to its extensity, even 
as does physical energy. Again attention requires a large 
amount of energy and is conditioned by that preexisting al- 
ready in the mind, one's expectations and one's needs in the 
premises. 

Furthermore, much of the limited energy in the child avail- 
able for the work of the recitation is used in those processes 
not directly mental but merely physical such as in the nerve 
processes involved in the action of the visual, auditory tactile 
and other senses before the actual mental processes depend- 
ent upon this (the sense material) are really started. The 
motor processes and adjustment incident in moving about 
the schoolroom for the various exercises and those incident 
in bringing the various sense organs directly into contact 



Psychologic Processes in Education 327 

with the stiniuh, also tend to exhaust the child's energy. 
These latter arc evident particularly in such movements as 
the turning or inclining of the head " to catch a sound," of 
the eye to see an object, and of the hands to touch objects. 
Poor light, objects that are distant or that by their color 
absorb too much light, noises that are distracting, teachers' 
voices that are too loud or too low, all contribute in this 
way to the useless dissipation of the child's energy. It is 
a well conceded fact that physiologically the giving of con- 
tinued attention is attended at times by severe muscular 
tension, especially where the act is new or difficult and when 
this form of the strain is absent the excitation is brought 
into its own by severe inhibition of other forms of excitation 
striving to gain expression in the present state of conscious- 
ness. Tests having the warrant of highly developed scien- 
tific methods in the laboratory and outside have proved be- 
3'ond a question of reasonable doubt that physiologically 
under the strain of fatigue, disease and over stimulation such 
as nervous excitement or cortical center excitement and a 
superfluous floAv of blood either to or from the brain, the 
power of attention is reduced and mental activity either is 
reduced thereby or else is made practically impossible. The 
other senses also use up some of the child's energy in their 
activity but as these are the senses particularly active in 
the educative processes, these only are mentioned here. 

The justification in the demand that the energy of the 
child be conserved is easily seen. The physical environment 
must offer the maximum comfort, the manner of the teacher 
must be such as to promote the greatest mental ease, the 
physical movements of the child must be reduced to a min- 
imum in their demands upon the energy of the child and the 
daily tasks of the schoolroom should not be so long as to 
produce strain or so-called restlessness in order that the 
conservation of the child's energy may continue at a max- 
imum. In the fact that attention is conditioned by pre- 
existing ideas, expectations and needs the justification of 
the form and nature of the assignment, the study period and 
the recitation, and most especially of the first and last is 
clearly evident. 



328 Education in Theory and Practice 

The first step in the educative process is to see what is 
the mental content of the child, both when he enters school 
and at the beginning of each recitation and in review. This 
done the logical place of beginning has been found. Too 
often in the passing of pupils from one grade and teacher to 
another grade and teacher, the teacher assumes that cer- 
tain work has been done and at once proceeds to build upon 
this as found for his part of the educational structure to be 
built up out of the mind of the child, without seeking to find 
out exactly how much of, and how well the educational 
foundation and superstructure has been laid down at the 
time when the pupil was turned over into his hands. The 
new ideas to be of practical utility must be well connected 
with the ideas pre-existing in the child's mind. This being 
done the child can be led readily up the road of knowledge 
that he has thus far traveled and shown where he stands 
at the present recitation period and made to await with 
pleasure and anticipation the next step, having at the same 
time been shown his immediate needs and to what extent the 
facts of this lesson will contribute to the supplying of these 
needs. Attention by concentrating and directing energy 
makes impressions otherwise shallow, deep and paths of dis- 
charge otherwise impervious to more feeble discharges per- 
manent and easily accessible, thereby increasing the con- 
scious intensity, the completeness and the definiteness of the 
sensation by focusing it. Change, newness, novelty, sur- 
prise, curiosity, contrast, strangeness, familiarity and often- 
times discipline all contribute to the conscious intensity of 
the discharge of mental energy, the completeness and 
definiteness of the sensation or its consequent image. In 
fact these are the constant attendants upon attention. 
Psychically attention is to a high degree in older and almost 
entirely in the younger dejaendent upon the question of likes 
and dislikes. This is an important fact for the teacher to 
get acquainted with early in his educational work. The ef- 
fect of the pleasure-pain economy is too near upon the young 
racially and the young individually to permit his very distant 
removal from its influence. This makes the proposition of 



PsycJiologic Processes in Education 329 

pleasurable tasks for the school cliild, especially in the lower 
grades, paramount. 

Voluntary, Involuntary and Expectant Attention. One or 
two authors attempt to name and justify another kind of 
attention namely that of indifferent or non-voluntary atten- 
tion in addition to the three given above. Allowing for this 
discussion that such a form of attention exists, though the 
settlement of it belongs to the field of psychology, its peda- 
gogical value is too small to justify its discussion here. The 
aim of all educative processes is to attain in the child the state 
of involuntary attention, hence the prime importance of the 
teacher's knowing the physiological and psychological phases 
of attention, the attendants of attention both physical and 
phj'siological and the part they play in the success of the 
daily routine of the school. There are from the pedagogical 
viewpoint two serious objections to voluntary attention. 
One is that the will power necessary to maintain it is usually 
not well developed in the child and not a great advance is 
made along this line even by the time the child is ready to 
leave the public schools as a finished product. In the second 
place, all that will power can do, even assuming now that it 
be sufficiently developed, is to direct and redirect the mind to 
a given thing, fact or circumstance. Once this is done v>ull 
has done its best. From that point on the mind if it works at 
all must operate entirely under the control of its predomi- 
nating interests. It might be added incidentally that be- 
cause of this very fact, it is seriously questioned by many 
authorities as to whether or not as a process of mind, volun- 
tary attention can really exist. Sure it is however, that 
involuntary attention secured by allied powerful interests in 
the teacher, the schoolroom and its work is the goal desired 
and for which the educational forces are expending their 
efforts as the most important thing that the school can ac- 
complish in pushing its work. Knowledge and existence are 
so closely allied in the natural order of things that whatever 
is a surprise is always somewhat of a shock to the organism. 
This shock may be a pleasant surprise or an unpleasant sur- 
prise. The educative process is normally filled with pleasant 
surprise. 



330 Education in Theory and Practice 

Expectant Attention. The anticipation of pleasure is 
one of the greatest joys of the human soul. It is upon this 
that the principle of expectant attention rests. The child's 
mind is prepared for Avhat is going to happen. The mind is 
put into the state most appropriate for its reception, at the 
appointed time the expected comes forth and is received by 
the waiting. This is the supreme test, the supreme moment of 
teaching. In the hand of the skillful and enthusiastic 
teacher it is of almost unlimited value and poAver in the 
schoolroom processes. It should be sought after by the 
teacher and developed in the child from the very beginning 
of the school life until the close. 

A high form of expectant attention is evident in the athletic 
and play contests about the school. Here the contestants 
in their respective positions each determined to do his best 
and to take every fair advantage of his opponent, and each 
keyed up to the highest pitch of nervous tension awaits the 
judge's voice, the discharge of the referee's pistol or the blow 
of his whistle to set into play every bit of energy pent up in 
the body. That nervous discharges of energy in this way 
and under these circumstances are strong and force paths of 
discharge that are deep and lasting goes without saying. 
Questions asked and answered under such circumstances of 
strain and tension are both definite and lasting in their effects. 
It has proved in practice to be a very effective form of atten- 
tion for the teacher in the work of the recitation, but like 
every other good thing must not be worked overtime. Nor 
must the tension excited be too great, if the best results are 
to be gained without having their accompanying evils on hand 
to plague one. 

Memory. On the one hand phj^siologically memory repre- 
sents the paths of discharge in the plastic matter become per- 
manent by constant discharge along the same route. On the 
other hand it represents also the groups of brain cells formed 
under the control of molecular force set in action by ner\^e 
disturbances in various parts of the body and made more or 
less permanent by persistent relations incited directly 
through renewed stimulations from the same or connected 



Psycliologic Processes in Education 331 

paths of discharge. Memory is strongest in the young be- 
cause of the plasticity of the young brain and the larger 
amount of available energy and the impressibility of the nerve 
and brain substance so pliant in the child and yet unformed 
into stable relations and molecular groups. It is at its best 
in the early part of the day because of the larger amount of 
energy in the body available for the bodily and mental func- 
tions which serves at that time to intensify the amount dis- 
charged and the force of it. Memory also varies according 
to the time that has elapsed since the recording of the dis- 
charge among the molecules of the brain and higher centers 
and is determined chiefly by the time that has elapsed since 
the impression and the degree of the completeness and dis- 
tinctness of the image formed. Loss of memory may come 
with disease, with weariness or with age, or it may be produced 
by the continued or excessive use of intoxicants and certain 
highly exciting drugs, or by direct injury to the brain. Not 
only does memory vary throvigh the successive age periods, 
but it varies greatly in different individuals. We speak often 
of the naturally dull boy and of his counterpart the naturally 
bright boy. Above, attention was called to the fact that 
both by abnormal and normal condition some organisms are 
constantly in a state of high nervous tension and others are 
correspondingly in a state of low nervous tension. In the 
one of low nervous tension impression and memory will be 
slow, but the paths of discharge once formed will be more last- 
ing, while in the case of those of high tension the impressions 
and memory will be rapidly gained and the paths of dis- 
charge rapidly formed but mostly will tend to be less lasting. 
But where they are both rapid and of sufficient force to be 
lasting the resulting mental state is pleasing. However, such 
cases of combination are comparatively rare. Usually those 
in whose structure paths of discharge are readily formed have 
these paths destroyed with equal facility. Though quick to 
gain knowledge they are just as quick to forget it. Those 
who remember with fulness and exactness and learn equally 
quickly are rare and by no means to be reckoned with as the 
commonplace. Also In s£)me subjects teachers may get either 



Education in Theory and Practice 

large members of a class, or even whole classes whose memory 
is above the average and with whom good results are attain- 
able with comparatively little effort. 

A Good Memory. Evidences of a good memory may be 
seen in aptitude in application, firm hold on that which is 
learned and a consistent readiness in recall. Of all sense 
material that which is obtained through the activity of the 
visual sense is most easily recalled and next to this the ma- 
terial furnished by the auditory sense. After these the 
order in which the other senses are grouped as to the fulness 
of the material they furnish is given differently by different 
authors. Ordinarily, however, touch is generally next in 
importance. However poor a memory the child may pos- 
sess it may be improved. The chief method to develop mem- 
ory in the schoolroom is by exercises in acquisition and 
practice in recalling either of which may be varied in any 
number of ways. 

Pedagogically, there are several facts about memory that 
concern us here. First there is the fact that the degree of 
perfection of memory is decidedly affected by the time that 
has elapsed since the activity of the mind involved had been 
present and by the degree of completeness and distinctness 
of the image originally formed during this activity. Here 
is the psychological justification of constant reviews, briefly 
daily, and more extended at longer intervals. It will be 
necessary that all class explanations and introductory work 
be completely and distinctly outlined. Hasty work soon 
begets its own condemnation, while work that is unclear or 
incomplete is also to be seriously condemned. Make haste 
slowly will apply in the work of the recitation equally well 
with the work of life. The justification of object teaching 
and the value of maps, charts and other visible forms of 
demonstration, including written work at the board and 
seat, all are invaluable because the images they form in and 
the impressions they make on the mind are more lasting; 
memory of them endures longest. The fact that fatigue is a 
prominent cause in the weakening of memory and memory 
work sounds a word of warning from a viewpoint about pro- 
longing the school work, the assignment, the recitation and 



Psychologic Processes in Education 333 

the stud}' period unduly. Teacliers should study the gen- 
eral impressibility of pupils, Avhereupon the easily impressible 
and those more slow of impression each can receive his due 
consideration and attention. The readily impressible is the 
apt student. It is the slowly impressible to whom the at- 
tention of the teacher must be chiefly given. They should 
be made the standard of work in so far as a regulative 
standard is followed. 

The Kinds of Memory. Here as in the kinds of attention 
there is a variety of groups of classification. However, the 
one which is adopted here as of most use to the nature of 
this treatment is that of logical memory, mechanical memory 
and verbal memory. Of tliese three the logical memory is 
the most valuable to the intellectual processes. The me- 
chanical stands next, while the lowest in the series is the 
verbal memory. The first of these, the logical memory gets 
and retains the sense of the thing learned, and to be remem- 
bered; the mechanical gets all without any successful at- 
tempt at distinguisliing the important from the unimportant 
in ideas ; while the verbal memory merely gets the words 
without any regard for the thought either as important or 
unimportant. Historically the progress of the race and 
the individual is from the verbal memory to the logical 
memory. The struggle of the teacher is to get the pupils 
from the verbal memory to the logical even more rapidly 
than they would go b}'^ natural processes. The mechanical 
memory marks an intermediate step. Here where students 
do learn well they do not grasp or cannot grasp the import- 
ant from the unimportant in the lesson. Here the assign- 
ment of the lesson can be of much help. It should aim to 
remove much of this difficulty, especially where outlines are 
in possession of the pupils. Whatever of the difficulty the 
assignment fails to remove, the explanations of the words 
of the text and the giving of carefully prepared study ques- 
tions will more than likely dispose of. Too much care and 
watchfulness cannot be exercised on the part of the teacher 
to overcome verbal and mechanical memory in the pupils. 
These pupils if crowded in their work especially will often 
commit passage after passage of a given lesson without any 



334 Education in Theory and Practice 

adequate conception whatsoever of its thought content, both 
that in the thought content which is important and that 
which is unimportant. So adroit are such pupils that they 
have been known to recite their lessons clearly and often 
apparently thoughtfully until some careful questioning of 
the teacher or some slip of the pupil in the series broke 
the chain, thereby disclosing the fault. The confusion that 
may now be brought out will soon show that the pupil has 
no understanding of the thought but is dependent entirely 
upon the words. If the missing word is supplied, at once 
the repeating of the series begins and is carried on to the 
end without difficulty, showing just where the trouble is. 

A good method of testing for verbal memory is by giving 
appropriate questions on the sense of the text and requiring 
the pupils to find explicit answers to them. Requiring reci- 
tations in the child's own words is also helpful, as is the re- 
quest to define words and explain the meaning of various 
passages of the text. For convenience along this line text 
books are generally divided into appropriate parts which 
are adapted to the principles of memory. Each of these 
divisions as has been said has its important sentence and its 
unimportant. These divisions are usually the topic, the 
paragraph, the verse, the page or the chapter. Because the 
topic is most generally the division used and studied the im- 
portant sentence in the paragraph or topic is called the 
topic sentence. The topic or one or more topics usually 
constitute the assignment. Here the child learns the order 
of topics and the discussion of each and is prepared to go 
through the whole, once the machine (of thought) is started. 
These pupils are generally all lost for a beginning unless the 
question is couched in the words of the book or is such 
as to suggest to him the dirct words of the book. Hence 
originality in questioning is a practical method of reducing 
verbal and mechanical memory and particularly verbal mem- 
ory. 

Memory Devices. In aiding memory, especially logical 
memory an ingenious teacher can make many devices. Lit- 
tle rules that indicate in some way the run of the series are 
quite common, These in the lower grades the teacher may 



Psychologic Processes in Education 335 

devise, while later the pupils themselves should be shown 
the value of such practice and taught to form their own little 
methods of remembering. One of these chief recommenda- 
tions of logical memor>r is that it can be reduced to such a 
system, while the fact that verbal and mechanical memory 
cannot be so reduced will serve to discredit them as thought 
getting and thought retaining methods. While I write, the 
little verse for remembering the number of days in the vari- 
ous months of the year which is quite common comes to me. 
I give it here for the mere suggestion of the method, 

"Thirty days hath September, April, June and November, 
All the rest have thirty-one, except the second month alone. 
Which has only twenty-eight in fine, until leap year gives it twenty- 
nine." 

In music the use of the word B-E-A-D to denote the flats 
of the staff as they succeed each otiier in the scale up to 
four, and of the word f-a-c-e to denote the sharps cor- 
responding are Avell known and commonly in practice. Many 
teachers practice this S3'stem with more or less success. 
The fact is, so well recognized is the merit of this system 
that it has been adopted by the school and named the 
" S3'stem " or " law of mnemonics." Even in practical life 
experience has shown that couplets and words often form 
chains of connection in series that by the power of sugges- 
tion enable us to recall the thing desired in the series. This 
principle of memory has succeeded in tiding men and women 
of the world through important crises by their using this 
power of suggestion to recall that which they wished. 

The Laws of Memory. There are several practical rules 
of memory known as " laws of memory " which while they are 
only suggestive are of considerable value to the teaching 
profession. They emphasize in a new way much of that 
which is given in a different wa\^ earlier in this same discus- 
sion. 

1. The Law of Repetition. Repeat often the things you 
wish the pupils to remember. 

2. The Law of LTse. Strengthen the memory by constant 
\ise. 



SS6 Education in Theory and Practice 

3. The Law of Interest. Connect the things you wish the 
pupil to remember with those things in which he has native 
or acquired interests, for he will remember better those things 
in which his individual interests lie. 

4. The Law of Attention. Attend well to the things you 
wish the pupils to remember. 

5. The Law of Understanding. Have the child get a clear 
and full understanding of the things you wish him to re- 
member. 

6. The Law of Association. 1. By Contrast. 

2. By Contiguity. 

3. By Similarit3\ 

4. By Sign and thing sig- 

nified. 

5. By Cause and effect. 

6. By the whole and the 

part. 

Entangle the things 3'ou wish the pupils to remember 
in a net of as many logical associations as possible. 

Speaking of memory, its development and practical value 
to the teacher, William James sa3'S : "Of two men with the 
same outward experience, the one who thinks over his experi- 
ences most and weaves them into the most systematic rela- 
tions with each other will be the one with the best memory." 
Improvement (in memory) is due to the way in which the 
things in question are woven into associations with each in 
the mind. From a pedagogical viewpoint these laws of mem- 
or}' speak for themselves. They need only be applied for 
the teacher to see their efficacy in getting results. 

Imagination. The laws of association might with equal 
justification have come under the head of memory and many 
authors treat them under this head. For personal reasons, 
however, I wish to follow other leads and consider them under 
the subject of imagination. Imagination vrorks upon the 
material furnished through the senses and is to that extent 
identical with memory. But unlike memory besides repro- 
ducing the sense material it may use it by analysing and 
recombining it according to laws inherent in itself. Thuj^ 



PsycJiologic Processes in Education 337 

there are two kinds of imagination often called respectively 
the reproductive and constructive imagination. Some au- 
thors adapt a parallel division, namely, representative and 
creative imagination. There are other systems of division 
such as the scientific, artistic and ethical imagination and 
the associative, penetrative and contemplative imagination. 
For these, however, there is no demand here. Hence for uni- 
formity it is better to employ here the classical division of 
tlie imagination into the representative or reproductive and 
creative imagination. It is the creative imagination that 
is the goal of education. To the activit}^ of this faculty 
the Avorld owes its progress in both material and theoretical 
civilization. Creative imagination creates by recombining 
the old images or parts of images into new forms. Its value 
lies in the fact that things being understood in the relation 
of the part to the whole and vice versa enable not only suc- 
cessful disintegration of the whole into its component parts, 
but also its reassemblage into a new whole made out of con- 
stituent parts of this whole either alone or in combination 
with the parts of other disintegrated thought wholes. Be- 
sides the native " psychophysical disposition " to revive the 
past " inherent " in the mind, creative imagination depends 
for its force and material on certain conditions of reproduc- 
tion such as depth of impression of the original image, 
quantity of sense material, interest excited and the resulting 
closeness of attention, power of the suggesting image and 
the frequency of the occurrence of the stimulation for the 
original impression. 

While it is seen by the foregoing that the mind has a 
native tendency to form images, teachers may greatly aug- 
ment this power by seeing to it that the facts of the lesson 
are " driven completely home," that where possible the facts 
of the lesson are supplemented by much illustrative work 
both with objects, maps and board work. The fact in this 
is that the more the senses are aroused by the presentation 
through the same senses or different senses the deeper and 
more lasting become the paths of discharge formed by them 
and the more there is in the thought content to be disin- 
tegrated, analyzed and created into new mental forms. 



338 Education in Theory and Practice 

Some things also are by nature more suggestive than others 
by having stronger or more numerous connections. When 
these are employed the images formed are more enduring and 
more perfect. The stimuli that may be used to arouse 
image formation are either psychical, physical or physio- 
logical. Chief among the psychical stimuli are the so-called 
after sensations which cause us to hear long after the real 
audible sound has died away, such as when pieces of music 
keep ringing in our ears or certain visible experiences are 
constantly before the eyes long after the actual experiences 
are past. In this way people and objects, places and events 
will suddenly return to one after years have elapsed since 
the original sense impression was experienced. Flow of 
blood into or from various parts of the body both in health 
and disease causes image formation. The dreams caused by 
a full stomach are current examples of this. The delirium 
tremens and hallucination of the drunkard are probably 
greatly augmented by the over rapid cell destruction in the 
bodily metabolism induced by the alcohol. Likewise the 
various forms of mania evident in fevers are due to the rapid 
cell destruction and presence in the body as a foreign sub- 
stance stimulating certain forms of nervous and cortical 
center action. 

Imagination Subjects. Many subjects in the course of 
study are very appropriate for developing the power of 
imagination. Stories are the most commonly used subjects 
for cultivating the imagination. They may be either told 
or read and the children may be made to reproduce them 
or expand them as they see fit. Child imagination is particu- 
larly apt with these. Poetry is particularly appropriate 
for child imagination as is nature study, geography, music 
and drawing. History should head this list because of its 
relation to and dependence upon stories. More recently with 
the spread of physical education games have been included 
in the courses and have become a fruitful source for develop- 
ing the imagination. This form of mental exercise has the 
extra virtue of being more assuredly pleasing than some of 
the other subjects suggested. 

The Laws of Association. More important than the sub- 



Psychologic Processes in Education 339 

jects that arc particularly appropriate for the development 
of the miagination are the laws by which the images are 
recalled for the processes of analysis and recombination. 
These are the laAvs of association. The first three of these 
laws are given us by Aristotle. They are the laws of simu- 
larity, contrast and contiguity. To these Hobbes and Hume 
added the laws of means and ends, cause and effect, sign and 
thing signified and objects and their qualities. From the 
law of similarity it is learned that there is a strong tendency 
of the mind when one image is presented to it of recalling 
an image or images closely resembling the one presented. 
By the law of contiguity things closel}' associated in time 
and space and experienced in this association generally re- 
tain in the mental life a like closeness of association, the one 
serving as a means always of recalling the other and doing 
so not by will but by the very nature of this association in 
the past experience of the individual. The like is true in 
the relation of things opposite in their nature as experienced, 
also of things experienced in the relation of means to ends, 
of causes to effects, etc. 

The value of association in the schoolroom is in using ma- 
terial and questions that are closely connected with the child's 
experience in and out of school and of connecting these with 
the facts of the lesson. They thus become a part of the 
child's real life and respond to the train of thought that 
may be set in motion by the teacher's questions. Imagina- 
tion is not so much for use in the work of the schoolroom 
as to be developed there for use in after life of the pupil. 
However, both in the assignment, the study period and the 
recitation the facts of the lesson may be thoroughly grasped 
through the proper formation of images, where other means 
fail. Images being for use in the absence of the direct ob- 
ject are fainter and less vivid than the objects themselves. 
This makes it necessary that the original impression be full 
and clear. To this end therefore all of the efforts of the 
teacher should be directed. Judgments and the combination 
of judgments (reasoning) depend to a great extent for their 
validity in the correctness of the image formed. Judgments 
cannot be depended upon where the images upon which they 



340 Education in Theory and Practice 

are based were either incomplete originally or have by long 
disuse and non-renewal lost their caste of detail. 

This is a brief survey of psychology as it is directly re- 
lated to teaching. Much more might have been added and 
more detail included in that which was given but the scope 
of the work forbade the undertaking of either. 

REFERENCE READING 

" Attention and Interest " by Arnold, the whole work but especially 

Chapters IX and X. 
Compayre's "The Intellectual and Moral Development of the Child." 

Chaps. VI. VII, VIII. 
Kay's " Memory, What It Is and How to Improve It" Chaps. V, VII, 

VIII, IX. 
Taylor's " The Study of the Child." Chap. XVI. 
Dexter & Garlick's "Psychology in the Schoolroom." Chaps. Ill, VIII, 

IX. 
Colvin's "The Learning Process." Chaps. VII, VIII, XI, XII, XVII, 

XIX. 
Morgan's " Psychology for Teachers." Chap. III. 

Baldwin's " Psychology Applied to Art of Teaching." Chaps. VIII, X. 
Home's " Psychological Principles of Education." Chaps. X, XI. 
Bolton's "Principles of Education." Chaps. XVIII, XIX. 
Munsterberg's "Psychology and the Teacher," XVI, XVII, XVIII, 

XIX. 



CHAPTER XV 
SUBSIDIARY PHASES OF EDUCATION 

Habits — Morals — Manners — Religion — Patriotism 

Under the head " Subsidiary Phases of Education " are in- 
cluded the subjects habits, morals, manners, religion and 
patriotism. By the use of the term subsidiary education 
it is not intended to convey the idea that these forms of edu- 
cation are unimportant, but merely that they have run so 
prominently through the discussion of the other phases of 
educational processes that there is but little left of a special 
nature to be said about them in addition. Hence from the 
viewpoint of extended special treatment they are regarded 
as subsidiary. From another viewpoint these phases of 
education are subsidiary for the school in that it is not 
necessary to delegate this work to the school as such, but it 
is customary, and properly so, to leave much, if not all of 
such education, to the home, the church and to some extent 
to the state. These have been and should still continue to 
do such work more and more effectually than the school. 
The nature of the development of habits, of morals, of man- 
ners and in general of patriotism is such that the school can- 
not get the results desirable on the scale desirable without 
very close cooperation of the other educational agencies as 
it can in the educational processes pure and simple. Then, 
too, the code of a system of subsidiary educational processes 
is not well determined and because of the breadth of the field 
and the freedom allowed for the play of individuality of 
views, cannot be as well determined as the work that is for- 
mally educational. So prevalent is the recognition of in- 
dividual rights in these premises that it is the general custom 
everywhere to give way to and respect individual caprice 
in these matters of education on the argument that respon- 
sibility here is mostly individual and not aggregate as are 

341 



S4s2 Education in Theory and Practice 

also results. At present, however, the trend is everywhere 
toward more supervision and direction of these forms of 
education. This is due chiefly to the view coming into promi- 
nence that after all these things are as much for the aggre- 
gate welfare as for the individual welfare. As this view 
grows in strength the attention of those charged with the 
responsibility of the school education will be turned in this 
direction and there will, as a result, be more direct study 
given to these phases of education in the regular course of 
study and daily program until they will become as promi- 
nent in the school processes and as thoroughly developed, 
understood and systematically regulated and graded as any 
of the purely literary or intellectual work of the school. 
The tendency at present is strongly in this direction both in 
thought and action and much already has been done in re- 
cent years. 

I. Habit. Fundamentally habit is closely akin to instinct. 
In fact historically it is the precursor of instinct. Through 
centuries of practice by successive generations of organism 
habits of action so modify organic structure as to become 
the physical basis of the various instructive actions. Habits 
therefore represent individual experience, while instincts rep- 
resent the cumulative effects of racial experience. While 
habits are by some called acquired instincts it seems from 
the above relation more nearly the fact to say that instincts 
are acquired habits that have been retained and practiced 
by the successive members of family and race until they have 
modified the structure or become manifest in tendencies in- 
herent in structure. Habits may arise by the conscious or 
unconscious response of the organism to the various influ- 
ences of the environment of the conditions created by the 
environmental forces. They have both a physiological and 
psychological side to them. Pysiologically a habit is a path- 
way of discharge formed in the nerve substance by which 
certain molecular disturbances in the form of motion find 
their way to the brain and along which similar disturbances 
tend ever afterwards to escape. New or acquired habits 
according to this would simply be a new pathway formed 
in the nerve substance of the body along which incoming cur- 



Subsidiary Phases of Education 343 

rents started by disturbances in some part of the body 
would tend to become permanent as a line of least resistance 
for motion along which all future motion aroused by similar 
disturbances would tend to escape. From the same view- 
point the overcoming of a habit would be either the modify- 
ing of old paths of discharge and the formation of new ones 
or the entire removal of old ones with or without the forma- 
tion of new ones in place of the old. The nervous system of 
the animal world was in the simplest form biologists tell us, 
a crude " device to connect sense organs with muscles," 
thereby enabling the discharge of movements in response 
to various stimuli in the environment. " Nothing that we 
do remains unrecorded by this system." It stores up the 
modifications of every act and its stimulus. The modifica- 
tion of structure resulting tend to preserve themselves and 
provide for similar discharges of motion in the future. 

In every form of living structure there are inherent cer- 
tain latent capacities and tendencies to action. By inducing 
these capacities and tendencies to issue in action we form 
the basis of habit. By focalizing the attention of the mind 
upon these actions and repeating them there are formed 
what are called habits. In life we owe all system in work 
and all forms of organization to habit, either directly through 
present actions, or indirectly through the structure inherited 
by the activity of the race in its life history. The chief 
value of habits both in life and in the schoolroom is that they 
contribute to an increase of speed and accuracy in action and 
diminish fatigue in labor. It also gives one new methods 
of approach in certain activities and for others a necessary 
knowledge. Without habit the mind could never get beyond 
the immediate action of the moment. The paths of dis- 
charge in the case of habit become lines of little or no re- 
sistence and when formed serve as a channel into which the 
mind can turn much of its work. The cerebral center is 
the seat of conscious action, the cerebellic center is that of 
unconscious or perhaps better that of partially conscious 
action. Actions which at first are highly conscious and re- 
quire the entire force of the cerebral center to carry them 
to successful issue as the paths of discharge for them 



84*4 Education in Theory and Practice 

become formed may be delegated to the cerebellic center, 
thus leaving the cerebral center free for other forms of ac- 
tion. Thus by constantly making various forms of action 
habits we can obtain freedom of time and effort for the per- 
formance of other activities. This process may be extended 
without limit each time extending the range of habitual ac- 
tions until we have at our command an indefinite number 
of habits of action now become a part of our organic struc- 
ture permanently recorded in the nervous system as one's 
individual possessions for the emergencies of life, leaving 
the mind still free to pursue any form of conscious action 
on an equal footing with the rest of the world. Thus it is 
tliat habits diminish feeling and increase activity. While 
we bring a few hereditary reflex and automatic forms of 
action into life with us, the chief part of our habitual activi- 
ties are formed and recorded in our organic structure by 
repetition under the control and direction of the will. Hu- 
man freedom of action consists in the power of the mind to 
initiate organic action under the excitation of various stimuli 
to discontinue such action, to modify it or to remove either the 
exciting agent or the part or parts of the organism affected. 
No new habits can be formed unless the will is invoked to 
arrest or modify old forms of muscular activity or initiate 
new forms. If one refuses by will to begin the performance 
of an act or to continue its performance a habit of action as 
a positive state is impossible. This is the history of habit 
both in the forming and in the unforming. Thus it is evi- 
dent that will and habit go hand in hand. While, however, 
will may be invoked to form positive habits the failure to 
exercise will may just as definitely lead to the formation 
of habits of action that a very strenuous exercise of will may 
be required to unform and sometimes habits so formed re- 
quire such suffering that the organism cannot successfully 
withstand the strain. All will, however, depends upon ha- 
bitual muscular coordination. Since habits once formed ex- 
clude the formation of other habits it is essential that the 
proper habits be formed at the beginning. Both good and 
bad habits go through the same processes in formation and 
are recorded with like degrees of permanence in the nerve 



Subsidiary Phases of Education 345 

structure of the organism. Likewise both often involve seri- 
ous shocks to the nervous system in order to be changed. 
It takes just as serious efforts to acquire a bad habit as 
a good one. Besides there is a triple loss of time and energy 
in the formation of bad habits to say nothing of the other 
manifold evils that follow in their wake. First of all bad 
habits must be formed and they go through the same process 
of formation as good ones do. Then they must be unformed. 
After they have been successfully unformed the good ones 
which might have been formed at first may now be formed 
in their places. Besides all of this it is much more difficult 
to unform an old habit than to form a new one, for so dif- 
ficult is the unforming of some old habits that in accomplish- 
ing it the entire organism is sometimes undone. The longer 
the paths of discharge have been formed, the more persistent 
they become and resultingly the more difficult it is to remove 
them. That is to say the older a habit the harder it is to 
break one's self of it. It is an associated fact also that 
while the young acquire habits readily it is also compara- 
tively easy for them to get rid of them, while with the older, 
the more matured, more slowly are habits formed and they 
are also more difficult and slow in yielding to efforts to re- 
move them. In childhood the period of maximum plasticity 
and impressibility is the time not only to form habits, nor 
even to form good habits, but to form the best habits. 

Kinds of Habits. With habits as with other forms of 
school and mental processes there are various classes or 
kinds given according to the author and his viewpoint. The 
classic division of habits is into the groups of native and 
acquired habits. This division is genetic and is the pre- 
vailing system of division. William James gives us practical, 
emotional, and intellectual habits. However, there is another 
classification that appeals to us here. This is the classifica- 
tion into phj'sical, mental, moral and religious habits. 

Nothing is more valuable, nothing contributes more to 
one's health, happiness and success in life than a set of good 
physical habits. Regularity and moderation in sleeping 
and eating, together with a good physical environment for 
the body enables the bodily energies to be raised to a max- 



346 Education in Theory and Practice 

imum degree of efficiency. The time comes in the life of 
every individual, when, if he would succeed he must have 
at his command for immediate use an extra supply of en- 
ergy. If this is wanting and his body fails him he breaks 
down, or is unable to meet the demand of the moment and 
either is lost or fails in his efforts at achievement. Given 
a long life, normal strength and activity, most men of ambi- 
tion get well onto the attainment of their life's ideals. Pre- 
mature death superinduced by bad physical habits has 
robbed humanity of many of its most able and brilliant men 
long before they had contributed a small fraction of their 
energy and ability to human progress. The old Latin 
proverb, "Sana mens sano corpore " (a sound mind in a 
sound body) was not spoken amiss. The sum total of human 
happiness has been found to be decidedly affected by the sum 
total of human habits. Suicides and murders are often 
traceable to ill health and degenerate bodies obtained 
through bad physical habits. All forms of violent passions, 
irritability, melancholy, many spells of sickness and dis- 
eases are directly attributable to bad physical habits. 

Moral habits in the sense of social conduct — our conduct 
toward our fellows — are the source of much pain and dis- 
comfort in society. Habits of moral action are woefully 
lacking in even many so-called highly civilized countries and 
highly educated people. Among men actions are mostly 
egocentric. That is to say the actions of men cluster about 
themselves. They emanate from self and return to self. 
Closely associated with moral habits are religious habits. 
Very little is done in the schools of this country either in 
religious education or the formation of religious habits. 
The state and the school leave such matters to the home and 
the church, while the home seems inclined to place its share 
of the burden on the church. The church has little direct 
coercive power to assiduously bring about the formation 
of religious habits. The custom of the church threatening 
the evil doers in the world with hell fire and vivid picturing 
of heavenly bliss as a reward for certain kinds of conduct 
have in many instances enabled the church to bring about 
the formation of good religious habits among its communi- 



Subsidiary Phases of Education 347 

cants, such as the regular attendance upon its services, the 
contribution of a " tithe " of their earnings to its support 
and tlic refraining from certain forms of action which it holds 
to be not for the good of the individual and mankind. How- 
ever, good religious habits contribute equally with other 
kinds of habits to human happiness on earth besides having 
the distinct merit of holding out a ray of hope for suffering 
humanity in the presence of the great beyond to which all 
men come in their thoughts and w^iicli without this ray of 
light life itself for many would be miserable and the passage 
out of life into the hereafter would be fraught with trembling 
fear and terrible foreboding. 

The school is concerned chiefly with intellectual habits. 
William James says, " All our life so far as it has definite 
form is but a mass of habits — systematically organized 
for our weal and woe and bearing us irresistibly toward our 
destiny whatever the latter may be." These habits it is the 
business of education to cultivate if good, modify and re- 
direct if they be capable of becoming good, or i-emove if 
bad, substituting for those removed such new habits as will 
promote the greatest degree of organic living and working 
efficiency and raise to a maximum degree the capacity of the 
individual for happiness and complete living. In producing 
desired habits the teacher can employ the principle of asso- 
ciation or suggestion mentioned above to good advantage. 
In the school process if those things which belong together 
are put together, naturally, and if those things which be- 
long apart are kept apart and thus drilled into the mind, the 
process of thus associating or separating them in thought 
will become in time a fixed habit, the value of which to the 
pupil's mental life wall be for all purposes of education almost 
inestimable. Good habits can be fostered by a proper system 
of reward, and bad habits discouraged by a proper system 
of punishments — the good adhibited, the bad inhibited. All 
of the routine processes of the schoolroom may in this way 
be reduced to habit. Correct sitting and standing postures, 
grace and ease in movements and carriage, neatness in per- 
sonal appearance, accuracy and thoroughness in school work, 
cheerfulness, good disposition and general pleasantness in 



848 Education in Theory and Practice 

manners are all a matter of habit with the formation of 
which the school can do much. Especially should the teacher 
concern himself with habits in work and jDosture. Slowness 
in sitting and standing indicate a corresponding trait in 
character, while lack of neatness in dress and personal ap- 
pearance besides being manifestations of character will fol- 
low throughout life and by bad presentation handicap one 
even from the very beginning in life. In every form of life 
these kinds of habits once formed follow one throughout life 
for weal or woe. Consequently no effort put forth in early 
life to insure the formation of a series of good habits in the 
young in these things can be counted as effort misdirected. 
The cheerful smile even in trial and pain is always welcome. 
" Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep 
alone " is true both in theory and practice. No one wishes 
to meet the person who is always complaining and thereby 
is always miserable. He is shunned by all alike. Much 
of the ails of humanity is imaginery, much of our thought 
along these lines is merely habit, habits that it were better 
for us all had they never been formed. 

We will now attempt the application of this discussion of 
habit to the field of education. A moment ago it was said 
that all system and organization owes its strength to habit. 
It is a fact habit does leave the mind free for conscious in- 
telligent action along other lines. But it is also true that 
habit reduces conscious intelligent action, that is, the ten- 
dency of habit is to reduce the organism to a mechanism. 
Carried to this extent habit becomes an evil instead of a 
good. Again in all natures there is a strong reaction against 
the formation of habits of action. The argument being that 
will and initiative, self-assertive action, suffer thereby. 
Since the tendency of the age in matters educational is in 
this direction, this complaint is to be expected. Tlie com- 
plaint, however, should be taken as a timely warning and 
the teacher who is wise will heed it. School routine even in 
the form of habit that makes the child an automaton and 
negatives his will is more than useless. It is an evil. 

II. Morals. Education for efficiency as well as for com- 
plete living must develop along all lines, that is, must fit 



Subsidiary Phases of Education 349 

a man for all of the forms of social activity and social con- 
tact. The best men in society, the ones who make the world 
better by being in it, are not so often those who have acquired 
the greatest knowledge of facts and truths, and the greatest 
skill in the use of the instruments of civilization and progress, 
as they are those who have the disposition and the strength 
of will (character) to regulate their conduct to the best 
interests of their fellows. They may know less of the duties 
and responsibilities of civic and social life, they may know 
less of facts of knowledge and underlining truths, they may 
have less skill in using the instruments of civilization, but 
such persons will be found to do more actual work, to render 
more enduring service to humanity than any other group of 
the social bod}'. The end of moral education is the forma- 
tion of character, — the training of the will to do that which 
the intellect shows to be the best for all. Moral education 
in general takes on two forms. In the one it becomes the 
training in the habits of living, the social usages as practiced 
by members of the social group one toward the other. This 
latter we generally call manners. The former form of edu- 
cation generally develops in two directions. In the one form 
it looks to the conduct of one toward himself and in the other 
it looks toward his conduct to others. In general the train- 
ing in conduct towards self is neglected for the training in 
conduct towards others. But if anything is to be given 
more consideration, the proper conduct toward self should 
receive precedence over that toward others. Further, moral 
education too often takes the form of the abstract and im- 
practical instead of the concrete and practical, whereupon 
we are led to look over the small and simple things at hand 
in life for the more profound that is often remote and dif- 
ficult of attainment. There is just as much immorality and 
wrong in robbing one's body of rest, food and exercise as 
there is in stealing a neighbor's purse. It is just as im- 
moral to overwork and abuse the stomach and vital organs as 
to mistreat one's fellows and overwork and underfeed and 
underpay tiiem. The fact is, the former is more directly fol- 
lowed by retributive justice than the latter. Yet how many 
moral lessons impress these facts upon the minds of the young? 



350 Education in Theory and Practice 

On the contrary the child is taught the seriousness of the 
former ahnost to the total neglect of the latter. These relics 
of the asceticism and self-abnegation that marked papal su- 
premacy in the Middle Ages and which was broken by the hey- 
day of renascent humanism still have their traces in human 
conduct. The sickness, disease and human suffering that 
this indifference to self and self-welfare has caused mankind 
is almost be^^ond conception. The school can and should 
do much to remove this condition. Physiology and hygiene 
are especially fitted for the development of a moral sense and 
moral ideas looking to the care of self in conformity to the 
demands of the physiological laws of health and activity. 
The kinds of food, the amounts and the hours of rest and 
exercise are all subjects that teachers may develop in the 
school to much practical profit even thougli the control of 
such things in practice is not left to the discretion of the 
teacher nor to the wishes or intelligence of the child, but is 
regulated by those in authority in the home, where similar 
kinds of intrusion are often seriously resented. Results there- 
fore will be best where the home is advanced in thoughts and 
methods and teacher can have the thoughtful and sympa- 
thetic cooperation of the home in these efforts. 

The other form of moral training — that which en- 
deavors to regulate our conduct toAvards others — receives 
considerable attention from the teacher and is reduced to 
somewhat of a system in the school processes. But it too 
is to quite an extent an heirloom of the Middle Ages. How- 
ever, perhaps for this very reason this code is pretty gen- 
erally in use. It seems to have gotten its hold in the school 
when the church dominated both the school and the state. 
This code of conduct involves chiefly our conduct toward 
others. Its aim is to regulate action between man and 
man. Most moral teaching of this kind, however, is laid 
down in theory and abstract principle. It is the duty of the 
teacher to make them practical by teaching them by means 
of concrete illustration. For just as the facts of knowledge 
are best grasped by object lessons so the facts of conduct 
are most clearly taught by the use of concrete example. 
Just as also right thoughts are aroused by the presentation 



Subsidiary/ Phases of Education 351 

of those exciting agents calculated to awaken them, so right 
feeling in conduct is obtained by the presentation of such 
objects as will occasion the arising in consciousness of the 
desired mental images. Many have contended that moral 
judgments are innate in the mind. But whether this be true 
or not it is a fact that once there they require development 
if they are to become of any practical service. Capable 
judgment in moral matters is only reached comparatively 
late in the stages of moral progress just as is the case in 
mental judgment. While material for moral instruction 
in the school may be drawn from almost any source, litera- 
ture, maxims and proverbs including fairy tales, parables, 
legends, fables, allegories and the daily occurrences in and 
about the school, all may by a skillful teacher be made fit 
material for moral instruction. 

In right conduct we deal with what Ave call the moral sense, 
more commonly known as the conscience. This must first be 
awakened by the conditions of the living environment. Then 
it must be fed on the proper material and the nascent ideas 
developed into clear moral ideas along with the power to form 
full and complex moral judgments. In no form of instruc- 
tion is the example of the teacher so necessary as in moral 
instruction. Here is one case where pupils learn to do by 
seeing things done as well as by doing. The abstract pre- 
cept-s of right and wrong conduct will avail much in control- 
ling the acts of children, but where the child has the high 
standard of moral conduct in the teacher and in many in 
parents the appeal to him will always be much more effective. 
Children are to a great extent hero worshippers and imitat- 
ors and they observe us and copy our actions and words 
when we are least conscious of it. There are few graded 
courses in morals in use in schools to-day. But whether such 
are available for teachers or not, both superintendents, prin- 
cipals and teachers in the graded schools can formulate plans 
for most instructions that will be progressive in form and 
scope and that are adapted to the ascending grades. In 
the school the child first meets his fellows on an equal foot- 
ing. Here first fully the ego of one child crosses that of 
another and either takes up with or antagonizes the ego of 



352 Education in Theory and Practice 

the other. The right of one against another at once arises 
and must be considered separately and in conjunction with 
the rights of tlie aggregate. The growing child will have to 
modify many tendencies and get rid of others that up to this 
time he has been allowed to cultivate undisturbedly. In the 
process of this new experience and its changes upon his 
habits of thought and action the teacher can exercise great 
influence and drive home many valuable lessons in duties, 
rights, and responsibilities. The first lessons in importance 
in moral teaching in the school is probably that of obedience. 
Obedience at least to some extent has already been begun in 
the home, but generally only begins to be effective when en- 
forced in the school. Next we come to property rights, to 
freedom of individual action, closely followed by honor, 
courage, self-control and truthfulness. All of these and 
many more are highly essential to the success of the child not 
only in the school, but also in after life. If these be well 
learned here in the period of high impressibility the child has 
with him an asset in conduct that will offset many other pos- 
sible shortcomings. 

Prominent among our conduct toward others stands our 
conduct to animals. Animals in their needs and activities 
appeal to the gentler emotions of man chiefly because of their 
dependence, also because of the services they render to man. 
To a few proper conduct toward them appeals also as mere 
matter of justice in the abstract. Primitive man whose 
status in each generation is represented by the child is un- 
restrained in brutality and marked by the lack of the higher 
feelings of sympathy and kindness. The chief method of 
arousing the higher feeling toward the helpless and to pre- 
vent the venting of anger and violent passion upon them is 
through the appreciation of pain felt by self whether that 
pain comes from others or from the suff^ering subject. Fear 
of pain is undoubtedly a general means of enforcing a re- 
straint on human action. In the J^oung curiosity is a ruling 
incentive to beget action and young children who have little 
idea of pain and suff^ering will inflict any amount of torture 
and pain upon animals Avithout having any conception of 
what they are doing. In the absence of any outward check 



Subsidiary Phases of Education 353 

upon such actions the school through its teacher and teaching 
must impose an inward check. Talks upon the nature of 
animal life and the suffering they undergo, their service to 
mankind, their place in the economy of nature and the simi- 
larity between their lives and ours all will tend to create in 
the young the proper moral feeling toward animals. Chil- 
dren who in their youth when the dormant sympathies can 
be easily and properly directed are taught the needs of ani- 
mals and shoAvn how they both appreciate kindness and often- 
times show their appreciation by reciprocation will learn 
lasting lessons of kindness to animals. For children to have 
various animals as pets is one way in which to promote kindly 
feeling in children for animals and another is by a proper 
series of talks and illustrations in the schoolroom of their 
habitat and methods of living, and rearing young with illus- 
trations of Avhatever signs they show of mental life. To these 
efforts may be added with good effect the organization in 
the schools of societies for the prevention of cruelty to ani- 
mals with perhaps pledge cards and other emblems of associa- 
tions. Where occasion presents itself these school organ- 
izations may be made affiliated organizations with civic 
organizations of this kind. Much is being done in state, city 
and toAvn for the better treatment of animals. Those forces, 
however, are inconsiderable when compared to the force that 
the teacher and the school may become if proper forms of 
moral education be instituted in the school and if these be 
constantly and systematically taught throughout the school 
period. 

Besides this in a general way everything within the school 
has a moral aspect that may be put to good use by the 
teacher in raising the moral tone of the school. The various 
movements of the school may be done with precision, prompt- 
ness, regularity ; during them the body may be held erect 
and the head up as well as obedience enforced, all of which 
tends to put the child in a position of advanced relation 
with his fellows that in itself is highly moralizing. By in- 
stilling habits of industry, neatness and accuracy and of 
application to work the school does much for many of its 
nmnbers. It is surprising how few children learn concen- 



354) Education in Theory and Practice 

trated and continued effort in the home. What this short- 
coming or indisposition to pursue work for long periods of 
time means to organized capital and industr}'' and to enforced 
idleness suffering and crime to the child in after life every one 
knows. It is left then for the school to teach children to 
work for longer or shorter periods of time even though it cost 
the putting forth of will power and the using up of much 
surplus bodily energy. Of course, care must be taken that 
health and growth be not impaired by such routine system, 
but the work of the school ought to be carefully mapped out 
with due regard for the health and growth of the pupils, and 
then its learning by all insisted upon b^^ the stimulation 
of will and ambition. 

No place, however, affords the opportunity for moral in- 
struction like the playgrounds. Here the pure minded and 
the evil minded child come into familiar and close contact. 
The child of the slums meets and contaminates the mind of 
the child from the most cultured homes. Obscenity and pro- 
fanity are rampant, also a host of minor evils. All of these 
the teacher must see, know, correct and overcome. The child 
is never at himself better than when on th^ playground. To 
begin with, activity is a demand for his proper growth and 
development. His moral weaknesses and misconceptions 
crop out there as nowhere else. His abilities and capacities 
are there free for the fullest expression as are the stimuli 
for exciting them to activity. Here the child may be ob- 
served exactly as he is. Aside from the fact tliat play gives 
the child new concepts of self in his relation to others it also 
gives the teacher interesting material as well as an oppor- 
tunity for driving home moral lessons in conduct and feel- 
ing for others, that arise nowhere in the school life. While 
there are many argviments advanced against the recess period, 
the playground and their supervision by the teacher to- 
gether with his constant commingling on the playground 
with the pupil, this is one argument and a very strong one 
why the teacher should at all times even at sacrifice to him- 
self be present with the pupils on the playground. Sex 
commingling in the schools may be made the means of much 
valuable moral teaching. There is a wholesome moral effect 



Subsidiary Phases of Education 355 

both upon boys and girls where the two are allowed to com- 
mingle freely in the school. Besides social pride which 
shows itself early in such schools, boys become gentler and 
more refined, while girls lose much of their prudishness and 
early sentimentality, when accustomed to the refined associa- 
tion of morally good boys. The locality of the school also 
contributes much to its moral tone. School buildings should 
be located in the better sections of the town and where there 
is the least amount of social pollution, for the children to be 
exposed to in their daily journeys to and from the school 
if the best is to be attained morally with the child. 

III. Religion, On the one side morals run off into man- 
ners on the other side into religion. Religious education is 
forbidden in American public schools by legislative enact- 
ment. Not that the religious training is not essential, but 
that it is not considered the duty of the state to look after the 
religious education of the child, but that that responsibility 
by tacit consent, and rightly, falls upon the church. One 
of the chief reasons why all of the teaching and discussion of 
the bible is forbidden in the public schools is that it leads to 
wrangling over minor matters of doctrine which are matters 
for the sects to discuss and determine rather than for the 
school. Besides religious zeal and devotion are rather per- 
sonal matters into which it is argued one should go rather 
by personal choice than by training and compulsion. It is 
a fact, however, that if the school aims in its efforts at the 
production of a well rounded complete man, to neglect such 
an important side of him as his religious side would be a 
serious oversight and mistake, for which the state and society 
pay a heavy penalty. Religious training is too important 
a factor in the progress and welfare of humanity to be ne- 
glected and when the church either neglects it or the state 
finds that its results are not as far-reaching as it desires it 
to be, the state should take the necessary steps to fill the 
gap in training. Education as fostered b}^ the state is com- 
pulsory and religion is a matter of personal choice. But 
even with this religion could be offered by the school and 
still be optional. If the state undertook religious education 
it could use compulsion in regard to it if deemed best and 



356 Education in Theory and Practice 

thereby get results which the church has not succeeded in 
getting in religious training. In a wa}' religious education 
is a safeguard to the state the same as is intellectual educa- 
tion. Religious training and thought act as a check upon 
violent and fractious natures in a way that neither the state 
nor society could successfully do. It is but practical fore- 
sight on the part of the state, therefore, to provide that 
this restraint upon human action shall not be lost. The 
school in particular and the state less directly, both, owe 
their maintenance, perpetuation and present situation to the 
fostering care of the church and religion, Avhen the unwar- 
ranted and sudden attacks of barbarians and savage hordes 
ignorant of the value of either institution assailed them and 
threatened them with immediate destruction. For the state 
to neglect religion now, when it has come into its own looks 
like gross ingratitude to say the least. American civiliza- 
tion is feeling sadly the need of the restraint of religious 
training in thought and action. The church and its work 
are based upon -v oluntary action, and, v/liile it lias done and is 
doing a great work for humanity even in this way it can 
hardly be expected from what was said above to accomplish 
Avhat the state accomplishes in education. All civilized states 
have accepted and rigidly enforced the Lutheran idea of 
compulsory attendance upon the public schools, why can 
they not accept the other great doctrine of Luther and 
make bible study one of the subjects of the public school 
course of study? The plea that the church and the home 
can both look after the religious education is not a sufficient 
one. The church and the home can and do look after so- 
called intellectual education. But it was found out that 
whether they could or not they did not get the best results. 
So it is to some considerable extent with religious educa- 
tion. It is thus fair to both to say that they do what they 
can in this regard which is much, but not all that is necessary. 
The home has other distinctive functions which make this 
function secondary, while the church passes much of its 
function in educational matters on to its adjunct, the Sun- 
day School, which it has created within its ranks and at- 
tempted to foster and support. And yet what a woeful lack 



Subsidiary Phases of Education 357 

is there here. The M'ork is often poorly graded, if at all, 
the pupils badly classified, text books scarce and language 
not well adapted to the young mind of the child and the 
teachers untrained both in the subject matter of the text 
and the principles of teaching. The attendance upon the 
Sunday School, though various artificial means are taken 
to stimulate and keep it up, being non-compulsor}', is ir- 
regular and consequently only a few of those amenable 
by age obtain even such education as is offered. There is 
little or no S3^stem of preparation or study of the lesson or 
of the recitation, while the time devoted to them is short, 
generally about thirty minutes, to sa^y nothing of the lack 
of room, meager equipment and the general excitement and 
interruption amidst which the work is done. It is no wonder 
under such circumstances that religious education as fos- 
tered b}^ the church is poor and that society, state and 
church alike suffer as a result. 

There is without a doubt some justification of the attitude 
against the teaching of religion and the bible in schools, but 
this can and is only valid when it comes to sects and sectarian 
doctrine and religious views. Religion and the bible both 
can be shorn of these and introduced into the schools. Many 
countries of continental Europe have done this, notably 
Germany. Here, thanks to the influence of Luther religion 
is a prominent part of the German public school curriculum. 
It is true that it is optional with parents as to whether 
their children shall attend these exercises or not, but the 
education is offered under the guidance and control of the 
state to all who wish to attend upon them. Nor is the per- 
mission to keep children away from such subjects left en- 
tirely to the caprice of the parents, but those who desire to 
do such must get official permission from the state authori- 
ties, which is only granted after the parent has signed a 
rigid code of relinquisinnents, which few consent to do. The 
education given under the head of religion is graded and 
consists of bible instruction and instruction in sacred his- 
tor}^ and literature. Of course, there is justification in the 
jealousy with which Americans as a people guard their re- 
ligious rights and freedom, when one thinks of and allows for 



358 Education in Theory and Practice 

what they have suffered to gain and retain them. But re- 
Hgion throws a halo of security around our social, political 
and civil institutions that we cannot well do without. Al- 
ready contamination is creeping into our social structure 
and we should take hold before our civilization becomes rot- 
ten at the core and slowly eats out the heart of our institu- 
tions and government. Religious education can be taught 
in the public schools without endangering religious liberty 
and it should be. Moral education has its good quality and 
is effective within its range, but morality and religion while 
they have much in common have some things in difference. 
That is, religion is something apart from morality and this 
something morality can never supply until it becomes re- 
ligion. Mankind has not yet reached that stage, if it ever 
will, where it can rule out of its life all conceptions of God, 
his works and his restraint upon human action and still 
vouchsafe to civilization the safety of its social, civil and 
political institutions. Religious education should be a fixed 
part of our public school curriculum. For by its being 
taught there much of stability and endurance of education 
will be saved for society and the state. 

IV. Manners. Like instruction in religion, instruction in 
manners has been chiefly delegated to the home. It is only 
recently that it has found a place in the common school cur- 
riculum, though even to date that place is an insignificant 
one. Manners should be a prominent form of public edu- 
cation. Second to intellectual training and a very close 
second at that stands training in manners. However, 
though it may be just because of the custom one and all are 
in the habit of forming estimates of people by their manners. 
Very good manners because of the paths they open to the sex 
possessing them are cultivated by the really low and de- 
graded. That does not reflect upon good manners but 
merely goes to show how valuable an adjunct good manners 
are to those who would be well judged and given a chance in 
the affairs of life. If the school hopes to give the child that 
which is valuable in personal presentation to society it can- 
not negelect training in manners. Manners generally take 
on two forms. Either they become politeness with all that 



Subsidiary Phases of Education 359 

the word implies or they run off into etiquette as used in 
its broad sense. Etiquette in principle is an outgrowth or 
perhaps better a corollary to politeness which goes into more 
detail. Both politeness and etiquette may degenerate into 
mere form entirely devoid of all spirit. Etiquette has been 
more often reduced to mere tawdry conventionalit}^ which 
has become so empty as to cast a shadow of reflection upon 
true etiquette. In its teaching the school must carefully 
distinguish between the two, decrying the one and upholding 
the other. Etiquette is generally a form of conduct tliat is of 
much value for self and self-welfare as for others and the 
welfare of others. Politeness is entirely for the comfort 
and welfare of others. It is the altruism that has grown 
upon us with civilization and marks the progress of society 
from a barbaric horde to an enlightened community. Polite- 
ness is really the truest form of altruism, especially if it 
comes from the heart, as it is one of the most unselfish forms 
of conduct civilization possesses. America is in this respect 
to quite an extent a country of little social form and con- 
ventionality. We are, however, proud of this trait and 
are known throughout the world for their brusqueness of 
manner and curt indifference to social usage. It is the 
American idea of democratic liberty. And, while no true 
American would change the national ideal, there is some 
danger that the practice is condcmnable as it may be and 
oftentimes is, overdone. While democratic ideas resent the 
restraint of excessive conventionality, there are certain simple 
forms that are necessary if there is to be permanence to what 
claims American civilization may make to culture. In Eu- 
rope the American is forcibly impressed with the good man- 
ners in old and young and their exceeding politeness to all 
alike both to stranger and friend. This is particularly 
noticeable in Germany where lessons in manners constitute 
much of the scliool and home training of children and it is 
everywhere regarded as an evidence of culture and standing. 
The familiar " Howdy," " Hello ! " and " Hello there ! " of 
America without bend of body, nod of head or lift of hat 
form a remarkable contrast to the very formal and effective 
" Bon matin," " Bon jour," and " Guten Morgen," and 



860 Education in Theory and Practice 

" Guten Tag " of the French and German of all classes ac- 
companied by a bend of body, bow of head and lift of hat. 
So far has this formal usage in manners extended that men 
lift their hats to men as v,ell as to women in most places of 
continental Europe, this lift being not merely the raising of 
the hat but the removing of it to arm's length from the head. 
All greetings also are with full bows. The girls do the 
■courtesy familiar to all Southerners as the " Curtsie," while 
the boys mostly give the greeting from the position of mili- 
tary salute. Of course, instructions in manners may go too 
far and a little of it goes a long ways with Americans, but 
in avoiding Scylla we must beware of Char3'bdis. Either ex- 
treme is dangerous. False manners are a bane to society, 
but simple good usage that represents the true feeling of one 
is an asset for individual or social group. 

What particular social forms should be taught in the 
schools is not generally definitely outlined, nor are they 
taught in the same number and ways in the different schools. 
In general we should only do those things which express our 
appreciation and sympathy for the presence and welfare of 
others. These expressions should be particularly for the 
lowly and the helpless in general, and for others, out of re- 
spect and gratitude, but never to curry favor. Too often 
good manners both in young and old are turned to this de- 
graded and degrading end. In the home where the welfare 
of each is closely interwoven with that of the other, courtesy 
and consideration are of the utmost importance. Next to 
the home those of the school come in for consideration. 
After these follow our general contact with our fellows in 
a social and business way. In the school, children should 
be taught how, when and to whom to raise the hat and what 
forms of greeting stand for in the social relation. In the 
niceties and delicacies of such forms the school can have 
little interest. They are for the culture and refinement 
as well as conventionality of a society in which the school 
for itself especially in a democratic country can have little 
concern and to which it is not intended that the school should 
cater. There is upon one and all, however, constant de- 
mand for respect and sympathy for others who are sick or 



Subsidiary/ Phases of Education 361 

afflicted and in need of help everywhere in life. Giving seats, 
position or way to the aged, to our parents and older 
brothers, sisters and friends are all practices that help to 
lessen human woe and suffering and which give to children 
a self-appreciation and presence as well as regard from 
others that are valuable throughout life. Treatment of 
strangers, guests, hosts and hostesses and conduct in parlor 
and hall can be outlined and handled in a general way in 
the school, as well as the conduct at the table and on the 
street. The general suggestion being that the child be 
taught in these matters to put the consideration and welfare 
of others before self. Children, since they come in contact 
with new people daily, should be taught early how to receive 
and acknowledge introductions and how to remedy social 
and practical oversights and mistakes by an apology or a 
kindly and S3'mpathetic " Excuse me, please." How and 
when to say " thanks " or " thank you " is another lesson 
that the child should learn early. Too often children take 
the acts of others toward them too indifferently and as a 
matter of fact. Children little know how much of the world 
order revolves around them and perhaps it is well so. But 
when their interests are looked after by parents, relative, 
friend, acquaintance or even stranger with patient toil and 
care and often serious sacrifice, certainly the child ought 
to be taught that system of usage whereby he will see and 
appreciate this help given him and know how and be disposed 
to show by these signs that he appreciated the effort put 
forth in his behalf, and know that such should be because 
these things have been furnished or made possible for him 
by the sacrifice of another individual or group of individuals. 
Instruction in manners is to be condemned when it attempts 
to make a " fop " or " dandy " out of a child or waste time 
trying to instruct him in fastidious usages. But the school 
can serve the state and society well by giving wholesome 
instruction in the simple matters of conduct that are de- 
manded in the dail}' life of the child in the home, on the 
street, in public and in private, to old and young and to in- 
ferior and superior. 

V. Patriotism. Patriotism is pride, whether it be of fam- 



362 Education in Theory and Practice 

ily, home, town, state, country or nationality, not pride 
merely expressed in so many words, but pride that will when 
necessary bring sacrifice and suffering even unto death that 
the object of pride may endure. Patriotism has done much 
for the world and saved the day on many a battle field. But 
this is not the only form and use of patriotism, though it is 
the one mostly heralded abroad. Much also has been done 
under the name of patriotism that has degraded its other- 
wise ethereal conception. The general definition of patriot- 
ism runs in this strain : Patriotism is devotion to one's 
country ; " Love of country," " a Avillingness to sacrifice for 
one's country," etc. These definitions all strike at the 
fundamental in patriotism. It is the feeling that places the 
welfare of the object for which the feeling is manifest above 
that of all other objects even self and is especially used in 
reference to one's native land. As taught in the schools 
patriotism should teach not only the strength and virtue of 
country but also its weaknesses and foibles. Then the child 
can grow up with joy in the one and a determination to 
correct and remedy the other. Too often, love of country 
or patriotism begins and ends with the foreign foe. But 
in every country there are often domestic foes that are more 
dangerous to the country than any foreign foe ever could be. 
To be effective lessons in patriotism should go hand in hand 
with lessons in government. In this country, for example, 
the principles of democracy as well as its snares and pitfalls 
should be known intimately to all of its citizens. They then 
provoke serious consideration along with whatever we see to 
boast of. Democracies have their weak side as well as their 
strong side. So also have monarchies both limited and 
absolute. The school can and should show the child that 
which is sane and wholesome in government and civil life in 
general and the duties of the child in respect to it, both 
in peace and in war. The elective franchise is the guardian 
of our political and civil institutions. Upon its proper use 
depends the permanence and perpetuation of our country 
as a political unit. There is as much need for the proper 
use of the ballot as of the musket. Democracies are governed 
by parties. But parties and partisan measures are never 



Subsidiary Phases of Education 363 

of superior importance to one's country. Patriotism and 
partisanism go hand in hand as long as partisanism has the 
perpetuation of good government and civil institutions in 
the country at heart and not that of the party, or the furth- 
erance of the selfish ends of the men who sometimes head 
the party. It is just as unpatriotic to aid and abet graft 
and corruption in government as to betray one's country 
to an external foe, just as unpatriotic to sell one's vote at 
the polls as to betray one's country for money. We are 
passing now through an era of corruption in government 
that, if the nation is to survive must be rooted out. The 
ballot is either misused or unused by a large part of the 
citizenship. If this crisis, for crisis it is, is to be safely met 
the ballot is the instrument with which it is to be met. Pa- 
triotism if properly taught in the schoolroom can do much 
to this end, not by talking or teaching politics but by talk- 
ing and teaching honesty in purpose, respect for law and 
a love for its rigid and impartial enforcement and the need 
of voting for measures and men rather than for mere party. 
Many there are of the citizenship who would willingly give 
their lives to repel a foreign foe, but who would not give 
the good will of a friend or acquaintance selfislily interested 
in party advancement for the sake of good government. 

Means of Teaching Patriotism. The nation and espe- 
cially the school can do much toward cultivating a proper 
spirit of patriotism by acquainting the child with the na- 
ture and duties of all public officials and their restrictions 
by and subserviency to, the law, to the state and the na- 
tion. They will then know what they have a right to ex- 
pect of them and how to demand and to obtain these rights. 
To this may be added the methods of observing the anni- 
versary of great events or achievements in national life. 
For example, we celebrate the " Declaration of Independ- 
ence " at which time orators speak of and teachers instruct 
in the meaning and value of that day to Americans. To this 
we add the celebration of the birthday of our national heroes 
and statesmen, when the children are taught the virtues and 
achievements that made these men great. From the events 
and characters of national repute we turn to those of local 



364* Education in Theorij and Practice 

report. The semblance of the national flag and what re- 
spect of and love for it means, along with its history of origin 
and consequent existence, dwelling especially upon it as a 
s3'mbol of national honor, integrity and respect. These may 
be accompanied or supplemented by flag drills and other 
exercises with flag and bunting in flag colors to visibly as- 
sociate the symbol with that for which it stands. In all 
such ways the school may teach patriotism to its pupils. 
However, lessons in patriotism would not be complete with- 
out the singing of our so-called national and patriotic songs. 
These patriotic hymns generally owe their origin to cir- 
cumstances with which in most cases the song itself teems. 
Our " Battle Hymn of the Republic," " Marching Through 
Georgia " and " The Star Spangled Banner " all partake 
of the fiery spirit of the war times that gave them their 
birth. They seem to be used cluefly to arouse this side of 
civic nature and patriotism. For this purpose also Ger- 
many uses her " Die Wacht am Rhein," France her " T^a 
Marseillaise " and we our " America." Though, America not 
originating under similar circumstances, partakes of a 
slightly different spirit. The learning and singing of these 
hymns will arouse the soul of the pupil in the same way that 
it does the older citizens. In connection with this also just 
what these national hymns have meant to the nation in the 
past and what they will mean in the future should be shown 
by the teacher, the part that the rising generation must play 
in maintaining this meaning in the "future and their con- 
nection with men and events should be carefully established 
in the child's mind. American patriotic celebrations do not 
seem to partake of such deep sentiment as patriotic celebra- 
tions on the continent of Europe. Of course they do, but 
the nature of the depths in their expression is the diff^erence 
of the emotionalism of the two peoples. America seems to 
be too busy in the things of the present and money making 
to feel the emotions of these people under the same circum- 
stances. Besides the school preparation in Germany, for 
example, to which weeks and weeks of preparation and drill 
in song and march and the use of the flag is diff'erent. The 
old too, for such occasions gather in large assembly halls 



Subsidiary Phases of Education 365 

and listen to the speeches of orators upon the greatness 
of country and government. This forms a strong contrast 
to our fourth of July celebration in most parts of this 
country, where the day means a lot of fuss and noise with 
danger to life and little of the import of the day to our na- 
tional life. The form has lost its substance. The Fourth 
of July is " firecracker day " to most of " young America " 
and hardl}^ that to most of " old America." Seeley closes 
his discussion on Patriotism by this passage : " If patriot- 
ism is to be fostered in our land, it must come througli the 
great body of teachers in our public schools. It must come 
early to the school children for the great mass of children 
leave sch.ool before they reach their teens. It will never 
be taught in the highest and best sense, if not taught by the 
teachers of the public schools who reach this vast body of 
children. Therefore as they love God, and home, and coun- 
try, and as they pray, and hope and labor for the glory 
of our great country and its noble institutions I summon the 
teacher to his greatest work." 

The school is the greatest organized educational force 
known to civilization. Not only in the direct phase of edu- 
cation, that of getting facts and learning truth about the 
world, life and activity, but the school is great in these phases 
of education which we have designated here as the sub- 
sidiary phases of education. These forms of education are 
more strictly education for life, for complete living. In 
these subsidiary phases of education the school serves more 
the state, the church, the home and society while in the other 
it serves more directly the individual. Here the moral 
standard of the country, here her social and political in- 
stitutions if they are to be maintained and purified are formed 
and fostered, here the value of the ballot and its use must be 
learned as well as the nature and essence of democratic in- 
stitutions. If the school stands by her colors here and docs 
her work well, all is well, if she fail in this, she fails in all and 
for her all is lost. For in the nature of her service the 
school is unique and no force in civilization has yet been 
found to take her place. 



366 Education in Theory and Practice 

REFERENCE READING 

Taylor's " The Study of the Child." Chaps. XVIII, XIX, XX, XXI. 
Dexter and Garlick's " Psychology in the Schoolroom." Chap. XXII. 
Colvin's " The Learning Process." Chaps. Ill, IV. 
Compayre's " Psychology Applied to Education." Chap, XI. 
Home's " Psychological Principles of Education." Chaps. XXVI, 

XXIX, XXX, XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII, XXXIV. 
Bolton's " Principles of Education." Chap. XXVII. 
Rosenkranz's "Philosophy of Education." Chaps. II, XIV, XV, XVI, 

XVII. 
Mlinsterberg's " Psychologjr and tlie Teacher." Chap. XX. 
Froebel's " Education of Man." Pages 60, 61. 
Adler's " Moral Instruction of Children." Chap. V. 



CHAPTER XVI 

PLAY, PLAYGROUNDS, ATHLETICS 

Play is the original form of animal activity, so much is 
this so that play has now become an instinctive and promi- 
nent trait of all of the higher forms of animal life. The 
greater the vitality and power of locomotion, the stronger is 
the instinct of play present in the organism. Play is nat- 
ural ; it is nature's method of getting exercise and exercise 
is a basic requirement in. animals for health and growth. 
It was Lamarck who revived the old Grecian biological prin- 
ciple known as " The Law of Use " and wrote, " use 
strengthens, disuse impairs and abuse (misuse) destroys." 
It was, it may be assumed implicitly intended that this use 
was to take place in the open air, though the law would 
still be valid without meeting this condition. At any rate 
to produce the best results use, exercise or play must be per- 
fomied in the open air and sunshine. Tests have proved 
that so vital is the need of sunshine for growing and living 
organisms and so thoroughgoing is this need in nature that 
all forms of plant life have acquired the power through its 
ages of strugggle for existence of extending its growth in 
any and all directions in order to reach the life and growth 
giving element, the sunshine. Plants left without it soon 
die, while animals have been known to become inert, help- 
less, unformed masses of flesh without developed bony tissue, 
incapable of locomotion, when denied the full and free ac- 
cess to sunshine and fresh air. Physiology has in detail 
told hoAv the chemical (actinic) actions of the sun's rays 
accelerate the production of red corpuscles (haemoglobin) 
and also of the white corpuscles (leucocytes), the former of 
which administer to the upbuilding processes of the body 
(cell formation), while the latter administers to the process 
of resistance of the organism to attacks from various de- 

367 



368 Education in Theory and Practice 

structive elements in the environment. In other words red 
corpuscles enable growth and white corpuscles enable re- 
sistance to the ravages of disease. Fresh air contains oxy- 
gen. Oxygen is necessary for the animal processes in which 
the organic cells appropriate and perform that recomposition 
of matter known as combustion by which the heat of the 
body is generated and the food substances reduced to their 
elements and made assimilable by the various tissues of the 
hody. But apart from these physical and chemical proper- 
ties of air and sunlight, there are psycho-physical effects 
in play that are equal, if not superior to, the influence of 
play. In the first place it brings about effective muscular 
coordination and quick response to stimuli. In its higher 
forms it demands accurate and deliberate thinking under a 
degree of nervous tension calculated to upset the best mental 
poise and balance. It often requires self-restraining, when 
the tendency to self-expression is greatest. In the young, 
play is especially to be commended for its aid to muscular 
coordination. The inability of the young to properly direct 
the motions of their bodies and limbs and to produce rapid 
and energetic motion is characteristic of all of them. If, 
then, play did nothing else but this, it would have served a 
large need in animal life and motor economy. Especially 
is this effect valuable in such young as are by nature slug- 
gish in bodily movements and dullards in mental processes. 
Play is by nature pleasurable. Biologically this would prob- 
ably be explained as due to the fact that play tends to the 
prolongation of life through the extension of all living ac- 
tivities, for according to the pleasure-pain economy in na- 
ture that which is pleasurable tends to promote life and its 
activities, while that which is painful tends to demote life 
and its activities. In other words it seems that there is in 
nature an inherent demand for voluntary exercise. Growing 
organisms have a surplus of energy which must be gotten 
rid of in order that the organs may be free to create more 
energy, the creation of which is life, health and strength to 
it. Unless this energy is used up it clogs the system, ener- 
vates the organs and reduces their action. This may become 
so serious as to bring on disease and even death, for the crea- 



Play, Playgrounds, Athletics S69 

tion of this energy involves destruction of cells and the filling 
of the body with waste matter, while the dissipation of it 
involves the removal of all effete matter and the building 
up of new and better cell substances. 

Demands for Recess and Playgrounds. Because of the 
evils of disorder and the disruption in the school program 
many educators have been led to advocate the abolishment 
of the recess period from the daily program and offer for 
it a substitute in the form of calisthenics and gjnnnastics. 
But the recess is the chief means that the school adopts for 
offering opportunities for play to the child. From a third 
to a half of the child's waking hours are spent in the school- 
room. To attempt to use up this much of the child's 
waking hours without provision for play in the open air is 
dangerous to the health of the child. 'Tis true that the 
work and discipline of the school seem to some extent to 
justify this attitude and that economy of time and energy 
seem to make it imperative. But is not the first demand 
upon all living organisms life and health.'' From this view- 
point indoor calesthenics and gymnastics are a poor sub- 
stitute for free play in the open air, especially since it has been 
shown wherein indoor exercise fails to satisfy the demands 
of health because of the lack here of the direct effect of the 
sun's rays Avhich play such an important part in the formation 
of the blood corpuscles, even granting that under the circum- 
stances air for the schoolroom can be obtained of the same 
healthful properties as that in the open, a proposition which 
in itself is to be seriously questioned. Art has succeeded 
in many instances in improving upon nature, but this is one 
instance where there would be everything except improve- 
ment. For according to Jacob Riis, " To play in the sun- 
light is a child's right and it is not to be cheated out of it. 
And when it is cheated out of it it is not the child but the 
community that is robbed of that beside which all its wealth 
is but tinsel and trash. For men, not money make a country 
great, and joyless children do not make good men," Ages 
of experience has made this sentiment the embodiment of all 
progressive national and educational ideals. Thus play is 
not a luxury of the school to be cast aside when necessities 



370 Education in Theory and Practice 

are in demand, but it is a necessary form of self-expression 
even though it be primitive. It is like many other natural 
processes only capable of its best when it springs from the 
soul spontaneously and involuntarily. To direct attention 
to it in detail voluntarily is to rob it of its chief joy and 
source of good. To attempt consciously to make play 
pleasurable and center the mind upon the effort is to rob it 
of the very element that gives it its chief value. 

The chief source of opposition to play is the sentiment 
come down to us from the middle ages a relic of religious 
ascetism, which belittled the body and all bodily functions 
and advocated its neglect and even abuse. The reaction 
against this kind of practical philosophy is growing stronger 
every day. To-day the tendency everywhere is to recognize 
and even to magnify the body and bodily functions. Spencer 
has shown in detail how the strain of each generation has be- 
come greater and the demand for larger earnings more im- 
perious until the lack of spare hours for recreation (play) 
has not only so weakened each generation that its capacity 
for the enjoyment of life is lessened, but that it leaves them 
so depleted mentally and physically that their offspring come 
into life less prepared for its strain and its demands, espe- 
ciall}' when the preponderance of evidence seems to indicate 
that those demands will be greater upon the later generation 
than it was upon the earlier. Investigation has shown 
that overwork, improper food, lack of rest and bodily ex- 
ercise in the open air and sunlight makes an opening for the 
successful attack of every form of disease, and that bad 
housing, improper air and sunlight is the cause of nearly all 
the epidemics and contagions. So that just as a grocer's 
bill by most of us would be more willingly paid than a doctor's 
bill, so a playground should be more willingly furnished to 
the young and old than a sanitarium for tuberculosis and 
consumption. Statistics go to show also that there is a 
relation between crime committed by individuals and the 
amount of access they have to pla^^grounds and opportunity 
for play. Having discovered this the " International Prison 
Congress " recommended as a preventive and reducer of 
crime " vast additions to playgrounds as the surest preven- 



Play, Playgrounds, Athletics 371 

tion of juvenile mischief and crime and as affording young 
people places where they may learn to bear defeat with 
courage and success with modesty." Along the same line 
Governor John A. Johnson wrote " He (the boy) must have 
enough of recreation and pleasure to keep the vinegar out 
of his nature and no man has the right to deny his children 
that." 

The playground and games both for young and old fur- 
nish an opportunity for the players and those observing the 
play to learn the various weaknesses in human nature, both 
morally, mentally and physically as nothing else will. Pas- 
sions such as would never crop out elsewhere will appear 
in the vicissitudes of the playgrounds, selfishness, vanity, dis- 
honesty, disregard for individual rights and for law with a 
desire for order all show themselves in ways that occasions 
elsewhere do not often serve to bring to the surface. Op- 
posite traits and qualities also come out on the playground, 
some good and some bad Avhich a Avhole lifetime otherwise 
might not bring to the front. From the viewpoint of the state 
and society the playing of games is a wonderful schooling 
for the child, for he cannot play them without learning sub- 
ordination and respect for law and order even if only the 
laws of the games and the order necessary for its success- 
ful continuance. Here, too, he learns the first full effects 
of unprejudiced as well as unrestrained disapproval of his 
fellows for the transgression of law and the disturbance of 
order. For every game has its laws by which each player 
must abide and methods according to which he plays. In- 
deed, as Gulick has well said " The play life of a people in- 
dicates more than anything else its vitality, morals, intelli- 
gence and fitness to live." Not only " the resisting power 
of the body can be kept at its best only where there is simple 
bodily exercise in the open air, but the good nature and 
cheerful temperament of the child is maintained thereby." 
Another good side of play is that there is no process in the 
school that is more democratic. On the playground plebeian 
and patrician, rich and poor alike meet side by side. It is 
a test of birth, but not of birth rated upon social standing 
and privilege, but upon the physical and intellectual stand- 



372 Education in Theori) and Practice 

ing of tlie family. Neitlier do dollars and cents nor even 
formal education as mere book knowledge, and culture as 
superiority in fine usage and contact win the day. The 
son of the plebeian is here on equal footing with the son of 
the " best bloods." Each is given an equal chance with the 
other and the son of the patrician soon learns here that there 
are other virtues of value to his fellows and society besides 
those which in the experience of the home he has been led 
to believe rest in himslf and those of his kind. The playing 
of games on this basis of equality and merit has taught him 
a new lesson in life. Here play is a natural equalizer, so- 
cializer and denationalizer. It makes common blood of all 
and temporarily at least unites all in one common interest. 
Herein lies the virtue of play. This is the good that the 
sdhool can do in fostering and super^dsing play and fur- 
nishing playgrounds and opportunities for play. The good 
that the school can do society, the state and the pupil by 
offering training and experience in play is obvious. 

Flay Versus Sclioolworlc. In the chapter on " The Daily 
Program " it was shown that play had a decided effect upon 
the work of a school. Of course, it was found out also that 
play to some extent disorganized and broke down the govern- 
ment and discipline of the school and broke into the work 
of the da}' to some extent. But besides being minor this 
effect was negative. Some very essential effects, however, 
were found. It was found out, for example, that the bodily 
movements in the open air accompanied b}^ a neAV form of 
mental process though at times intense purged the system 
of many physical impurities that tended to clog it and tax 
unnecessarily the vital organs in their functions, thereby 
producing sluggishness and fatigue ; that it increased the 
vital function and by increasing the processes of deoxida- 
tion used up much of the food products collecting in the 
various parts of the digestive tract where energy was gen- 
erated and stored away. As a result of these fruits of free 
bodily exercise in the open air and sunlight shortly after the 
recess periods the available bodily energy for school work 
was seen to rise markedly second onl}' to that found present 
immediately succeeding the opening of school in the morning. 



Play, Playgrounds, Athletics 373 

Observation lias also shown that the activity of play relieves 
especially healthy higlily energized temperaments of surplus 
energy. Surplus energy must be gotten rid of and if it is 
not worked off in one way it will manifest itself in another. 
Such children must be allowed more freedom than others. 
An occasional run in the schoolyard or a new form of school 
exercise will serve to quiet such a one. But some form of 
expression he must have. The pressure from within is too 
great for him to repress. With some children relief from 
this pressure is imperative for good work out of them. In- 
deed teachers may at times find necessary, in dealing with 
a class of such pupils, to interrupt a regular exercise and 
have gymnastics, a brief moment of indoor or outdoor recess 
to relieve the general tension. An experiment of this kind 
will generally immediately show not only a new amount of 
working energy but also a new working spirit in the child. 
This condition is found to be more aggravated on some days 
than others. Too, it is often noticeable that such conditions 
are more frequent and serious in the children from the poorer 
districts where the tendency to more unregulated diet of 
coarse and highly energizing foods in unlimited quantities 
prevails. There is a generally prevailing opinion created 
through long years of observation that the pupils who excel 
in play also excel in schoolwork. Tliis point is of value here 
not only because it shows that those who have energy for 
play also have like energy for work, but also because it 
shows that the same mental powers, muscular coordination 
and nervous control that are available on the playground are 
available in the schoolroom and that which is of equal or 
even greater importance, that the skill and increased control 
gained in the play of games is spontaneously applied in the 
exercises and work of the school. In the same way play con- 
tributes to individual and collective success of the social 
and civic body. Not only is the skill and muscular control 
gained there available in after life along with the powers of 
concentration, endurance and the arousing of new and allied 
interests, but the experience of inferiority and superiority 
to our fellows and the recognition of the great variety of 
abilities in various of his playmates gives him greater re- 



374 Education in Theory and Practice 

spect for them while at the same time teaching him just 
where he does excel, wherein he does not and also how he 
may improve himself. Too, associations and friendships 
sometimes started through incidents, associations and cir- 
cumstances of play often become permanent and bring much 
joy and comfort to each of the persons thus related through- 
out his life time. He also learns the lesson of cooperation 
and united action, and experiences keenly the appreciation 
of his play-fellows where he contributes his full share to the 
success and pleasures of the game as well as receives their 
disapproval where either because incapable or negligent he 
fails to contribute his share to the success and the pleasure 
of the game. P'or play not only brings to the surface in the 
child many native capacities but it also often shows one's 
various inherent weaknesses. On the playground also chil- 
dren learn valuable lessons in ethics. Not the theoretical 
ethics of the academy and the school, but the ethics of every- 
day life. All games have, for example, their prescribed 
rules of conduct and their prescribed penalties for non-per- 
formance or attempted breach in the rules of the game for 
the sake of unfair advantage in the performance of the 
various parts of the play. These must all be adhered to and 
rigidly enforced. One of the chief characteristics of child- 
hood is painful simplicity and frankness. The mistakes 
made or wrongs committed in the game arc denounced by 
them with ruthless indifference to the amount of pain in- 
flicted upon the unfortunate guilty ones. The fact is, in 
such matters children too often prove to be devoid of the 
consciousness of pain as it affects others. It is only later in 
life that they learn to smooth over ruffled moods, heal wounds 
with hurt-balm or condone mistakes and wrongs with sweet 
words and soothing manners. Then, too, say what we may, 
all children have their crude sense of justice and their own 
crude code of morals by which they judge and condemn mer- 
cilessly. In this system as administered b}^ them, those of 
their number who have various unsocial tendencies or who 
practice unfair methods in play soon learn the sting of popu- 
lar disapproval. In the games of play each learns his own 
rights and duties and whether he wishes to be or not is dele- 



Play, Playgrounds^ Athletics 375 

gated his rights and forced to perform his duties by the opin- 
ion and conduct of others. While it is a commonplace psy- 
chology that a weak body means a weak will and weak willing 
along with a general impairment of mental faculties no al- 
lowance is made for this in this child code of morals. But 
although all of these complex effects are going on at the 
same time in child play it is done almost unconsciously and 
the whole soul life of the child finds unrestrained expression 
in play thereby. No one can look upon a group of children 
intently at play, a seething running, jumping, laughing, 
shouting, conglomerate mass and not see that there is a 
divinity lurking behind it all, that play is as natural as life 
itself to the 3^oung and as necessary to their growth and de- 
velopment as food and drink. 

But with all of this there is much of evil in play and much 
of potent good in it which if left uncontrolled or undirected 
may be wasted or may even be turned into evil and do harm. 
The teacher should give constant attention to the play and 
the children at play, if anything like the best results are 
to obtain. Among children there are the fractious, selfish 
and even unsocial individuals who will prove harmful to 
the other members of the group and to the playing of the 
game itself. Sometimes it will be best to let him run abreast 
of the concentrated opinion of his fellows, at other times 
this may be dangerous for the group welfare, whereupon 
a strong arm from the outside must interfere. This strong 
arm in the play about the school must be the teacher who 
should always be at hand to see that as far as possible the 
right thing is done at the right time and that the innocent 
unoffending and often the weak are not abused or outraged 
by the willful and selfish strong. In schools where children 
of various ages and sizes play together it is often neces- 
sary to restrict the older ones in their play in order to pro- 
tect the younger and weaker. Oftentimes also unexpected 
freaks in play crop out and new and dangerous games may 
be introduced on the playgrounds and serious harm done 
in the playing of them either to the innocent child looking 
on or to those playing the game if the teacher be not on 
hand then and there to stop the play or modify it so as 



376 Education in Theory and Practice 

to rob it of its dangerous phase. New pupils from other 
towns and schools often bring with them vices and currupt 
practices, profanity and vulgarity that is highly contam- 
inating, if not discovered early and rooted out with a strong 
hand. This the teacher can only do by his constant presence 
and watchful care. In all of this, however, it is not in- 
tended that the teacher should attempt to officiate and in- 
terfere with the children at play. Play is at its best from 
the viewpoint of health for the child and self expression in 
play most natural and sincere when the pla3'ing is undirected 
and unrestricted by outside authority, that is, play is best 
when it is spontaneous. The less of a conscious or ex- 
ternally controlled element there is in play the better will 
be the results accruing therefrom to the pupil. The 
teacher can even with advantage indulge at times with the 
children in their play, having a care always that he loses 
nothing thereby of respect or high regard either because 
of his ignorance of the game or inability to perform well 
that which he attempts, that the indulgence be not so fre- 
quent as to cost him his dignity or the act to lose by com- 
monness its pleasure. Play is democratic as we have said. 
It is for all of the pupils. Oftentimes in play there are 
those bolder or more selfish natures who would crowd others 
more timid and less competent out of their places and parts 
in the play and usurp it for themselves. On the other hand 
there are those bashful selfconscious pupils who hesitate 
and are even inclined to refuse to take part in the game for 
fear that they may not be wanted or that they may not be 
able to do as well as some other, because of which they may 
laugh at them or otherwise hurt their feelings. Then, there 
are the restless and impatient pupils who fret and chafe 
under the delay in teaching the others the fine points of the 
game or play which they themselves have been even more 
slow to comprehend, but which they now know well, simply 
because they have had the opportunities of playing the game 
and learning it before. For all of these conditions, the 
teacher's presence on the playground is necessary and his 
tactful guidance and direction should give to all an equal 
opportunity to learn the various games played on the play- 



Play, Playgrounds, Athletics 377 

ground and to exercise this knowledge on an equal footing 
with every other pupil. 

Play and Discipline. There is still another side of play 
that concerns the teacher deeply. Play can be and should 
be made to have a decided effect upon the discipline of the 
school. It should reduce discipline in the school to a min- 
imum. Comparatively few, if any children are bad at heart 
and the conception of them that would make them so is funda- 
mentally wrong and bound to lead to serious trouble, if not 
actual failure in the discipline and government of the school. 
It is the combination of conditions of health and environ- 
mental circumstances in play that combine to make play 
helpful in school government and discipline. For it is un- 
der the restraint and repression of the schoolroom that re- 
sults in fretting, chafing, and restlessness which lead to 
misconduct and afterwards often to resentment, when un- 
proportionate or unfair punishment due to hastiness or mis- 
understanding on the part of the teacher is meted out, that 
most of the trouble in the schoolroom begins. Healthy chil- 
dren are brimful of energy. This energy is being constantly 
added to throughout the nonnal waking hours and will in- 
crease to the " explosion point " unless care is taken to 
use it up. This energy makes child-life very expressive and 
repression of this tendency to expression very painful. Play, 
in the first place, gives full opportunity for normal expres- 
sion and dissipation of this energy. In the second place 
play rests the organs from their tension and reinvigorates 
the body, thereby accelerating the ^atal functions, enabling 
the body to purge itself of impurities, improve the blood 
and enable a new set to of all the bodily organs to their 
respective functions. The teacher who fails to see this 
demand for activity in the young is in serious danger of error 
of judgment and resulting mistreatment of them. Schools, 
of course, must be orderly and children must be obedient. 
But when a child's whole physical and mental life is pressing 
out of him through eyes, tongue, finger tips, body and limbs, 
restrictions are useless unless they be simply directive, not 
repressive. At such times the tendency to action is too 
strong to be successfully suppressed without the applica- 



378 Education in Theory and Practice 

tion of dangerously strong measures. It can be better modi- 
fied and redirected into other channels of expression. This 
condition it will be found will pi'evail particularly under 
such circumstances as bright days, patron's day, show day, 
etc. On such occasions longer recesses or considerable 
abridgment of method and exercise is about as good a way 
to overcome the threatening difficulty as can be found. All 
exercises that are animating and full of action are under 
such circumstances to be especially recommended. By this 
means much of the energy that would otherwise go to plan 
out and execute mischief may be dissipated. What this fails 
to use up the longer recess periods at such times will care 
for. Children who have become dull and indifferent because 
their systems are surcharged with energy and so clogged 
with effete and foreign matter that the lagging blood fails 
to remove it, spontaneously awaken on the playground and 
after having gotten rid of the congested bodily state, re- 
turn to the schoolroom awakened and ready for the school- 
work. So that the playground by using up surplus energy 
makes possible an easy control and ready direction of the 
remaining energy into the desired channels of activity. 

Playground. All of this exploitation of the good traits 
of play and its value to the school child and the school work 
has been done under the assumption that there is a suitable 
place provided by the school authorities on which the child 
may romp and play and give full expression to his physical 
and mental nature. This assumption is not without grounds. 
Few public schools to-day, both those for boys and those 
for girls are without some space provided as playgrounds 
for the school children. Too, there are very few school au- 
thorities who have not come to learn the value of playgrounds 
for the health, discipline and working efficiency of the pu- 
pils. And if the present general agitation for proper and 
adequate playgrounds for the j^oung continues it will not 
be long before the pressure brought to bear will cause suf- 
ficient funds for the purpose to be put into the proper chan- 
nels to provide these grounds. Not only schools but cities 
too, catching the spirit of the times and appreciating its 
effect in making good citizens are providing playgrounds 



Play, Playgrounds, Athletics 379 

for the children where they may gather in the cities removed 
from the centers of vice, dust and grime, and find healthy, 
wholesome play and joyful occupation, so that Satan may 
not find less innocent occupation for them. There are to- 
day in every state, societies which have branch locals in 
every city of any consequence whose sole purpose it is to see 
that proper playground facilities are provided for the chil- 
dren of the town. Playgrounds are primarily for play 
and not for ornament. This fact is generally appreciated 
for boys, but too often it is forgotten for girls. Girls' 
playgrounds often are chiefly ornamental, so much so that in 
most cases there is little room for free play for fear harm 
may come to the oftentimes expensive ornamentation. Most 
girls' playgrounds are thus reduced almost entirely to highly 
ornamental parks and promenades. Here the fault is com- 
mitted, however much it is meet that the esthetic sense of 
girls be cultivated, of allowing the means to an end to usurp 
the rights and privileges of the end itself. And as a result 
instead of girls being given an opportunity for free and full 
expression of physical and mental states in play they are 
constrained to quietude and hampered activity, they, who of 
all children, should be given freedom of activity. There is 
at present, however, a tendency arising to give to the girl 
increased access to her own in this sphere with equal oppor- 
tunity for self-activity, self-expression and freedom of men- 
tal and bodily development and freedom in all forms of 
athletics. 

Plays for Schoolroom and Playground. While the num- 
ber of pla3'S that may be indulged in in the schoolroom and 
on the playground is large, here again as in all other phases 
of the schoolwork, just what games will be possible in the 
schoolroom and on the playgrounds and what success will 
attend their playing will depend almost entirely upon the 
ingenuity, tact, resourcefulness and general disciplinary 
ability of the teacher. The age of the pupils and the general 
advantages afforded by the schoolroom and the playground 
in facilities for a variety of plays and games will also come 
in for some consideration as to their ultimate effects. 

In the schoolroom the bean bag games (bean bag target. 



380 Education in Theory and Practice 

passing the bean bag, dropping the bean bag, and other 
miscellaneous bean bag games such as line throwing, drop- 
ping the bag, circle throwing, catching bags, and tag wath 
the beanbag) can be readily played and ordinarily the whole 
school can take part in the game. If this is impossible, the 
school may be divided into groups and the groups may play 
in relays, the ofF-groups forming the crowd of onlookers 
while the other group is playing. Marches, too, form a 
large part of inside play. There is the game of soldiers 
in which the whole school may join, the officers being chosen 
either by the teacher or the school, or by the school assisted 
and directed by the teacher, or the teacher may choose them 
on a basis of merit in schoolwork, announcement to this end 
having been previously made. Of all the marches the fancy 
marches headed by the so-called " Grand March " closely 
followed by the various folk dances. Next to marches from 
the viewpoint of the number who can take part come charades 
and magic music. Black board relay exercises may be in- 
dulged in in any form of school exercises both for the purpose 
of arousing interest and enthusiasm and for the mere health 
value as play. Quoits also make a good indoor game the 
pegs for the rings being immovably set in movable boards. 
There- are quite a number of intellectual and guessing games 
that are adopted to indoor use which may be used to further 
the school work especially arithmetic, geography, history and 
literature, as well as serve to satisfy the interest of play and 
resultingly the health of the pupil. Some of the principal 
intellectual games are " Packed My Grandfather's Trunk," 
" Buzz," " Simon Says," " Prince of Paris " and many 
others that partake of the nature of competition, such as 
" Spelling Down " and " Pronouncing Down." These last 
two may be extended to cover " Reading Down," " Reciting 
Down " and almost any other form of school exercise. 
Close to the intellectual games are the guessing games which 
are also of a semi-intellectual nature and by special effort 
and ingenuit}^ on the part of the teacher may be made almost 
wholl}' so. Some of the more common guessing games are 
" Kingdom," " Bird, Beast and Foul," " Omnibus " and 
" The Ship Sails." Where desirable all of these games may 



Play, Playgrounds, Athletics 381 

be varied to suit the occasion and modified so as to cover 
any kind of class work which the teacher wishes to take up 
in games. There is little if any lesson content such as can- 
not be made the subject of a guessing game and many form 
subjects also may be thus used. 

While most of the games named above under the head of 
games for indoor play may be played outside with equal ease, 
there arc besides these special games whicli because of the 
room they require, the amount of violent activity and the 
size and hardness of the instruments used in playing them 
are especially adapted to play out of doors and in fact 
can only be safely indulged in there. Strictly indoor games 
are chiefly for girls and small children and M^hen taken out- 
side, especially, are restricted to these. In consideration 
of these and any other games for indoors in comparison with 
outdoor games it will be well for the teacher to remember 
the disadvantages of indoor games of any and all kinds 
and the fact that free and undirected (not uncontrolled, but 
spontaneous) play produces the best results both on mind 
and body. It is granted, as a matter of fact that it will 
be advantageous at times, if for no other reason than be- 
cause of a lack of time to have indoor games. When these 
take the form of play the results are better for health, in- 
vigoration and schoolwork, than when they are mere exer- 
cises such as calisthenics and gymnastics. Besides, where 
there are even covered grounds for exercise it will be found 
necessary under some weather conditions to have whatever 
exercise is given pupils indoors under the proper conditions of 
protection from cold, rain and snow. 

Of the strictly outdoor games none are more common 
than the various ball games. " America's National Sport," 
baseball, stands at the head of these, though the danger to 
other children running around the school grounds in their 
own individual forms of play, the size of the grounds, the 
danger to window lights in the school building and neighbor- 
ing houses together with various risks and inconveniences 
make it hardly a practical game in most school playgrounds, 
especially in larger cities. Besides baseball there are other 
ball games that may be played in the open air. Among 



382 Education in Theory and Practice 

them and in the order of their popularity and numbers of in- 
dividuals who indulge in them, are, football (which in some 
places is under the ban) basket ball, volley ball, hard ball, 
racket ball, cricket, captain ball, dodge ball, long ball, pass 
ball, school ball, bounce ball, association ball (a form of 
football which in some schools has replaced football), " Ante 
over," lay ball, cross ball and many others too numerous 
to mention. Next to ball games on the American playground 
are the tag games held as strictly such. Among these we 
have cross-tag, prisoner's base, king's land, chain tag, wood 
tag, poison tag, shadow tag, robber's tag, wet and dry 
land tag, pom-pom-pullawa}^ blacktown, Chinese wall, for- 
feit tag and school tag. 

Tag games are appropriate for school play because of the 
fact that they are very simple, offer a moderate amount of 
activity, and afford an o})portunit3' for many to indulge in 
play at one time without any great inconvenience and self- 
restraint. As a general thing, however, tag games cannot 
well be indulged in by both boys and girls unless they are 
small boys and girls. The older boys are generally too 
swift of foot and rough for girls and small boys. This 
argument though, loses some of its force, because with some 
consideration it might be raised against most of the outdoor 
games and many of the indoor games. Leap frog, foot-and- 
a-half, jump-for-down, imitation, advancing statues, fox and 
geese, hawk and chickens, ducks on a rock, are good games 
quite similar to tag games, but which are restricted mostly 
to smaller groups, the first three being especially adapted to 
older boys while the others are more appropriate for the 
smaller boys or with mixed groups of both small bo3^s and 
girls. Marbles such as line lagging, ring lagging, purga- 
tory, bull's ring, eye dropping are other favorite quiet games 
with bo3^s and some girls. The question of " playing for 
keeps " in the game of marbles has brought a moral phase 
into the playing of the game under the supervision of the 
school Avhich has caused it to be forbidden in many instances. 
This method of playing being actually gambling, a habit 
which the school can hardl}' afford to foster even if it be only 
in play. 



Play, Playgrounds, Athletics 383 

Racing games such as dashes, relays (single and com- 
bined), hurdles, obstacle-races, potato race, egg race, sack- 
race and wheelbarrow race are good sports wliich one could 
hardly with correctness call games. They are, however, 
where not overtaxing (a very prominent danger) a pleasure 
to all. Ordinarily, races generally are over distances of 
from forty to two hundred yards, though they may be over 
even longer distances. Where not too violent no game is 
more exhilarating than is racing and few, if any, have the 
generally tonic effect on all muscles and internal organs that 
racing has upon them. These plays are mentioned only as 
a few of the many forms of play exercises known to the school. 
The fact is the games known and available for use in the 
schoolroom and on the school playground are so numerous 
as not even to allow one to even enumerate them all in a 
treatise of this kind. These that have been mentioned are 
presumed to be worthy of consideration because they are 
simple and require but little apparatus except perhaps such 
as each teacher or pupil can easily furnish for himself. The 
list given here could be and is intended only as an outline 
which may be extended or modified by the teacher to suit his 
local schoolroom and playground conditions. Since the agi- 
tation for physical education has spread and the subject 
of play has been studied in its relation to human health, hap- 
piness, schoolwork, good citizenship, strong manhood, gen- 
eral living and working efficiency and vagrancy and crime 
there have sprung up everywhere playground associations, 
schools which teach play and the management and manipula- 
tion of playground apparatus. Along with this school au- 
thorities have fitted out playgrounds where many new forms 
of play may be enjoyed. Some schools even have gym- 
nasiums whereby the amount of varied playing is increased 
many times over. 

Athletics. Athletics reduced almost to a formal system 
of play, games and contests have taken the place of directed 
and controlled play. Athletics as thus organized constitute 
the chief fault, if fault it may be called, of the American 
system of play. Athletics having in mind competitive con- 
tests look more to the training and skill of a chosen few 



384 Education in Theory and Practice 

rather than to the healthful play and training of the pupils 
as a whole. It produces a few magnificent specimens of 
ph3^sical manhood capable of great feats in power and en- 
durance but neglects the masses of the pupils almost entirely. 
It also aims to pick those already advanced in skill and power 
and in the given games thus omitting another large portion 
of the school bod3^ It has as a basis group rivalry in con- 
tradistinction to individual rivalry which play aims to de- 
velop. The group to be benefited by athletics may be one 
class or grade, but it is more often one school as pitted 
against another in a contest. Athletics undoubtedly bring 
out individual and school traits and good qualities that 
never could be realized otherwise. But it is a criticism upon 
it that since it neglects the masses for the favored few in its 
training and development it has in many cases assumed too 
important a role in the work of the school. Too often it has 
been forgotten that athletics constitute a means of educa- 
tion and that, too, a prominent secondary means, and is 
not in educational work an end in itself. Athletics has in 
most if not all of the larger institutions assumed enormous 
proportions. So much so that its good for education has 
at times been seriously called into question. The long train- 
ing season, the training table, the special quarters and the 
expenditure of large sums of money for paraphernalia, equip- 
ment and grounds are some of the more dangerous sides of 
athletics at their worst. In addition they turn the ideals 
of life into a light frivolous channel and make play an end 
in life instead of a means to an end. Athletics are also 
patronized and followed by a wild and dissolute element of 
loafers and idlers who seek acquaintance and friendship with 
the players mostly for monetary advantages which often- 
times, however, leads to seducing the players and leading 
them off" from the sober paths of living, into the unwholesome 
and corrupt paths. Still athletics are not to be condemned 
or abandoned, but the rather freed from its bad practices. 
They satisfy from one viewpoint, it is justly claimed, the 
primitive instinct of combat and racial enmity in man and 
represent a refined tone of heroism and hero worship. It is 
also probable that the natural instinct in man to struggle 



Play, Playgrounds, Athletics 385 

for superiority and survival is prominent in the emotion that 
causes him to foster and encourage athletic contests. But 
whether this be true or not certain it is that the pleasure 
men take in athletics is deep seated if not fundamental in 
their natures. Equally certain is it that the present foot- 
ball game, for example, when at its worst was a gratifying 
substitute for the battles and fisticuffs resulting in loss of 
limb and often of life that used to result when rival factions 
of the same or rival schools met whether by previous arrange- 
ment or by accident. It will also not be denied that athletic 
contests, if kept on a high plane of honesty, fair play and 
chivalry, all of which can be accomplished under good man- 
agement, will improve both the individual and the group, 
morally. A'^aluable lessons in the evils of lying and cheating 
may be had all through the game, while lessons in cooperation 
and self subordination are presented also throughout the 
game. It is up to the management at all times to insist 
upon everything connected with athletics being open and " on 
the square." Where confidence, good will and ability go 
hand in hand an athletic contest is a source of much joy, 
whether it be the desire for e\ddence of skill, strength or even 
warfare, whose satisfaction creates the joy. Disposition to 
rebel, to use profane language, to be brutal, even to bet, all 
will appear here and must be mastered. But with all of the 
good that athletics may do both for the individual and the 
school, it must never be forgotten that they are secondary 
to the school and its work. The schoolwork comes first and 
athletics afterwards. No kind of schoolwork should be 
materially neglected for athletics. Children soon become 
turned from the work of the school to the work of the play- 
ground of the school. For the school therefore to lend any 
considerable aid to this natural tendency inherent in all 
growing, moving things, would be dangerous to its welfare 
and ultimate success. jNIany an otherwise promising young 
man and boy has had his schoolwork and future life ruined 
by injudicious indulgence in athletic activity. Whoever may 
be concerned, no plea of school pride, or athletic enthusiasm 
should be allowed to come between the pupil and his school- 
work, even if he has to give up athletics entirely. Another 



886 Education in Theory and Practice 

pregnant evil in athletics is the partisan spirit it develops. 
While school pride and patriotism all have their value and 
place they should not be allowed to over-ride the nobler ele- 
ments of the contesting spirit. No better rule can be laid 
down than the golden rule, " Do unto others as you would 
that they should do unto you." The desire to win should 
never crowd out of one tlie desire to be fair, honest and 
manly. Victory in a contest is worth much, but it is not 
everything nor is it worth everything. A mind that Avill 
consent to stoop to means unfair or foul in an athletic con- 
test can with sufficient pressure be brought to consent to the 
same in other affairs of life. The onlooking crowd is often- 
times responsible for such an attitude in the players, but it 
is the duty of the management to rule out all such attempts 
at unfairness and cheating, even if it costs the forfeiture 
loss or even breaking up of the game. The management may 
not be able at all times to control the crowd that comes to 
see an athletic contest, nor perhaps even the presence of 
vicious and criminal elements in the crowd, but it can and 
should by every means possible show to all contestants that 
it believes in and will enforce high standards in its contests, 
vouchsafing honesty and fair play rigorously to home and 
visiting team alike. 

While athletics are for the relatively few, they require 
more playground and equipment than the ordinary games 
that are played on the school grounds. To a great extent 
in our educational system athletics appear in the high school, 
colleges and universities as a successor to play in the public 
schools, while the athletic field takes the place of the play- 
ground. Just as most of the public schools have to more 
or less extent adequate playgrounds and where they are not 
provided at present are being constantly added to the 
building equipment, so the high schools, colleges and uni- 
versities are mostly provided with an adequate athletic field 
and where such is not present they are being rapidly sup- 
plied. In the grades of the public schools, however, even 
though in many cases much prominence is given to athletics 
and athletic contests, especially in football, baseball and 
basket ball, grounds for these games are less often main- 



Play, Playgrounds, Athletics 387 

tained for the contests and places of preparation and of hold- 
ing the contests are generally to be had only elsewhere than 
on the grounds. This is practically true in the case even 
of the larger towns and cities, where the ground space is 
high and the public mind has not been brought around to 
the point where it is willing to consent to the outlay of the 
funds necessary to furnish these grounds and equipment. 
Besides the question of money there are also many other 
potent reasons why the public school should not put itself 
in the position of fostering too strongly the athletic spirit. 
In the first place the mind of the young is too unstable and 
too much inclined by nature to fly off and remain off from 
the work of the school. And in the second place the public 
contest because of the high degree of impressibility of youth, 
would probably have more lasting effect upon them for evil. 
Aside from these athletics seem to be more for the classes 
than for the masses. They are inclined to be aristocratic 
while play is democratic. They require more equipment, 
more special training and more money to maintain them, 
reaching in their turn only the few with its benefits. From 
the viewpoint of the school they require a special training and 
a degree of skill that could hardly be demanded of the ordin- 
ary. Again they are mostly for boys and leave the girls 
out of their sphere of good almost entirely. 'Tis true that 
teachers must be taught to play games and should learn to 
play as many different games as possible so as to be able 
at all times to entertain their pupils and make and keep 
them contented and happy, but for the opportunities of the 
public school and the purposes which plays and games are to 
serve, they should receive the preference over athletics, at 
least in the public schools. Teachers who are deficient in 
their knowledge of games may now extend their knowledge 
of them by all of the ordinary methods available for the 
extension of knowledge in other fields. School journals are 
now taking up the question of games for the schoolroom and 
the school playground and most normal schools and teachers' 
colleges offer special courses both in the regular session and 
the summer session in teaching, directing and supervising 
play in the school and on the playground. Of one or more 



388 Education in Theory and Practice 

of these sources most teachers so desiring can avail them- 
selves. Nor should a teacher deficient in these lines belittle 
the effect of his deficiency upon the school and its Avork. 
" All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy " is an old 
but true saying. Nowhere is its effects seen more clearly than 
in the work of the school. How the energy curve rises 
gradually after the school has had a period of play in the 
open air was shown elsewhere. This speaks for itself, and 
any one sufHciently interested can carry these experiments 
further and learn for himself the effects of play upon the 
health, vitality and working efficiency of a school. The 
school therefore owes it to itself to foster play and devote 
a reasonable amount of its time, energy and equipment to 
the developing of the spirit of play in the cliildren, if for 
no other reason than that the work of the school itself can 
be carried on to better purpose and more permanent results 
by this method. Fostering of play then by the school is 
not only a duty, it is a necessity and is closely related to 
the maintenance and growth of the school and the success 
of its efforts. 

REFERENCE READING 

Tcaylor's " The Study of the Child." Chap. XIX. 

Harris' " Psycliologic Foundations of Education.'' Chap. XXXV. 

Compayre's " Psychology Applied to Education." Chap. II. 

Rosenkranz's "Philosophy of Education." Part I, Chap. III. 

Froebel's " Education of Man." Pages 29, 30, 49, 97. 

Froebel's " Educational Laws." Chap. V. 

Blow's " Educational Issues in the Kindergarten." Chap. VI. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The works on Education are so numerous that it would 
be very difficult and also unnecessary to give more than a 
cursory list of references in a work of such limited scope as 
this. The aim has been to limit the references to the smaller 
texts, many of which almost any one of limited means and 
literary taste can afford to buy and have on the shelves of 
their private libraries. In the profession of teaching noth- 
ing is so essential as a wide awake well read person in litera- 
ture especially fitted for and adapted to the profession. 
Too, the time when a teacher can hope for success v*^hen 
wholly dependent for his capability upon the art as learned 
by the methods used by his teachers and unscientifically ap- 
plied by himself is long past. The only hope that promises 
the least bit of a chance for successs to-day is that learned 
professionally in training supplemented by extensive read- 
ing of professional literature both practical and tlieoretical 
and applied by experiment to the everyday conditions of 
the schoolroom. It is with this view in mind that a bibli- 
ography of this kind is presented and it is most sincerely 
hoped that those who consult the works cited will find in 
it some literature that will throw helpful light upon the 
problems which confront them daily in handling their classes, 
in their efforts to do effective work, in unfolding truth, im- 
parting facts of knowledge and forming habits which will 
form a character in the citizenship and give a skill in the 
use of the instruments of civilization, that will guarantee to 
the state and society industry, thrift and economy on the 
part of their product, thus enabling each to contribute his 
share to world peace and contentment. 

Hinsdale's "Art of Study." 
Smith's " Systematic Methodology." 
Gordy's " A Broader Elementary Education." 
MUnsterberg's "Psychology and Life." 

389 



390 Education in Theory and Practice 

Tucker's " Education." 

Griggs' " Moral Education.'' 

Rorve's " Physical Nature of the Child." 

Beard's " Education." 

Henderson's " Education and tlie Larger Life." 

Wagner's " The Simple Life." 

Brigg's " School, College and Character." 

Dalton's " Social Phases in Education." 

Eliot's " Educational Reform." 

Roark's " Jt^conomy in Education." 

Taylor's " Class Management and Discipline." 

O'Shea's " Dynamic Factors in Education." 

Thorndike's " Principles of Teaching." 

Angell's " Psychology." 

James' " Psychologj\" 

James' " Talks to Teachers." 

Snedden's "Educational Readjustment." 

Gillette's " Vocational Education." 

Power's " Educational Meaning of Manual Arts and Industry." 

Snedden's " Problems of Vocational Education." 

James' " The Will to Believe." 

Hall's " The Content of a Child's Mind on Entering School." 

Dewey's " The School and the Child." 

Findlay's " The Principles of Class Teaching." 

Gould's " The Children's Book of Moral Lessons." 

O'Shea's "Education as Adjustment." 

Sedgwick's " On Stimulus." 

Winch's " Notes on German Schools." 

Foote's " Weariness." Nineteenth Century, Sept., 1893. 

MacDougali, R., " Fatigue." Psychological Review, 1899. 

MacDougall, W., " Fatigue." British Association Reports, 1908. 

Winch's " Psychology and Philosophy of Play." 

Monroe's " History of Education." 

Allport's " Tests for Defective Vision in School Children." Educa- 
tional Review, 1897, New York. 

Barn's " The Arid Atmosphere of Our Homes in Winter." 

Belling's " Ventilation and Heating." 

Brigg's " Modern School Building." 

Carpenter's " The Heating and Ventilating of Buildings." 

Duke's " Health at School Considered in Its Mental, Moral and Physical 
Aspects." 

Fritz's " Play as a Factor in Development." 

Lukens' " The School Fatigue Question in Germany." 

Mosher's " The Habitual Postures of School Children.'' Educational 
Reviev\ 1897, New York. 

Sumner's " Folkways." 

Taylor's " The Problems of Conduct." 

Thomas' " Relation of Sex to Primitive Social Control in Sex and So- 
ciety." 

Kidd's '■' Savage Childhood." 

Palmer's "The Nature of Goodness (Punishment) Child Attitude." 

Fichte's "The Science of Rights." 

Sumner's "What Social Classes Owe to Each Other. What Shall the 
Public Schools Teach?" Vol. V. 



Bibliography 391 

Kern's " Among Country Schools." 

Scott's " Social Education." 

Shaw's " School Hygiene." 

Porter's " The Physical Basis of Precocity and Dullness." Acad, of 
Sci., St. Louis, 1893. 

Sanford's " Relative Legihility of the Small Letters of the Alphabet." 
American Journal of Psy., Vol. I, No. 3, 1888. 

Scudder. In School Document. No. 9, 189;2, Boston, Mass. "Lateral 
Curvature of tlie Spine as Caused by the Seating of School Chil- 
dren." 

Adler's " Moral Instruction of Children." 

Compayre's " Intellectual and Moral Development of the Child." 

Malleson's " Early Training of Children." 

Payne's "Contributions to the Science of Education." 

Spencer's " Education." 

Bain's "Education as a Science (Punishment)." 

Stanley Hall's "Youth." 

Stanley Hall's " Adolescence." 

Fichte's " Teaching." 

Edgeworth's " Practical Education." 

Wilke's "The Place of the Story in Early Education." 

Judd's " Studies of Childhood." 

Fitch's " Lectures on Teaching." Chaps. V, VI, " questioning in teach- 
ing." 

Adam's " Primer on Teaching." Chap. VII, " questioning in teaching." 

Compayre's " Psychology Applied to Education." 

Keating's " Suggestions in Education." 

Martineau's " Household Education." 

Locke's "Thoughts on Education" (Punishment). 

Groos' " The Plav of Animals." 

Groos' "The Play of Man." 

Bryant's " Educational Ends " (obstinacy and self -wiW) 21. 

McCunn's " The Making of Character." 

Gugan, "Education and Heredity (habit)." 

Compayre's " Pioneers of Education." Chap. V, Spencer (natural 
punishment). 

MUnsterberg's "Psychology and the Teacher" (Punishment). Chap. 
XL 

Sully's " Teachers' Handbooks of Psychology." 

Huxley's " Science and Education." 

Rosenkranz's " Philosophy of Education." 

Reins' " Outlines of Pedagogics." 

Herbart's " Introduction to the General Principles of the Science of 
Education." 

Sully's " Outlines of Psychology'." 

Hill's " Elements of Psychology." 

Preyer's " Infant Mind.'' 

Lange's " Apperception." 

Wiltsie's " Place of the Story in Early Education." 

Howland's " Practical Hints to Teachers." 

Prince's " Methods in German Schools." 

Arnold's "Way Marks for Teachers." 

Janet's " Elements of Morals." 

Robinson's " Principles and Practices of Morality." 



892 Education in Theory and Practice 

Hyde's " Practical Ethics." 

Adler's " Moral Instruction of Cliildren." 

Ped. Sera. Vol. I, " Moral Education and Will Training." 

Preyer's " The Senses and the Will." 

King's " Personal and Ideal Elements in Education." 

King's " Psychology of Child Development." 

Harris' " Psychologic Foundations of Education." 

Thompson's " Brain and Personality." 

Randenbusch's " Christiamty and the Social Crisis." 

Randenbusch's " Christianizing the Social Order." 

Hall's " Social Meaning of Modern Religious Movements." 

McFarland's " Spiritual Culture and Social Service." 

Gill and Pinchot's " Tlie Country Church." 

Carlton's " The Industrial Situation." 

Wells' " A Social Survey for Rural Communities." 

Ward's " The Social Creed of the Churches." 

Ethical and Religious Significance of the State (Dealey in 1913). 

Publication of the Baptist Department of Social Service and Brother- 
hood. 

Patten's " The Social Basis of Religion." 

Taylor's " Religion in Social Action." 

EUwood's " Sociology in its Psj'chological Aspects." 

King's " Education for Efficiency." 

Drummond's " Introduction to Cliild Study." 

Tompkins' " The Philosophy of School Management." 

Le Bonn's "The Crowd." 

Butler's " The Meaning of Education." 

Kirkpatrick's "The Fundamentals of Child Study." 

Adamson's " The Practice of Instruction." 

Allen's " The Origin and Function of Habits in Certain Aspects of 
Educational Progress." Publication by Department of Psy. and 
Ed. University of Colorado. 



INDEX 



Adjustment, 30-36. 

1. Capacity for, 30. 

2. Civil, 36. 

3. Dangers of, 35. 

4. Economic, 35. 

5. Mental, 31. 

6. Moral, 33. 

7. Physical, 31. 

8. Religious, 34. 

9. Social, 36. 

Air, humidity of, in schoolroom, 
117. 

motion of, 115. 
America, courses of study in, 257. 

national ideals of, 53. 
American civilization, 356. 
American system, demands of, 167. 
American education, results in, 17. 
Approbation, desire for, 155. 
Aristotle, 17. 

courses of study of, 252. 

laws of association by, 339. 
Arrangements of subjects, 268. 
Art in education, 20. 
Athletics, 61. 

moral value of, 385. 
Attention, kinds of, 325, 
Average pupil, 307. 

Bad boy, the, 153. 
Bain, on education, 290. 
Bryan, definition of education by, 
14. 

Calisthenics, 61, 62. 
Chadwick, 269. 
Chautauquas, 98. 
Cheating and copying, 308. 
Child energy, 281. 
Children, motive in, 142. 
Chinese education, 54. 
Chinese, national ideals, 54. 
Christian associations, 75, 76. 
Criminal tendencies in school, 34. 
Church attendance, reasons for, 94. 
Church education, 50, 89. 



393 



Class education, 53. 

Coal stoves, heating by, 118. 

Commendation, the giving of, 214. 

Community meetings, 124. 

Confucius, 40. 

Contagious diseases, 121. 

Courses of study, purpose of, 248. 

justification of, 250. 

historical development of, 251. 

and the daily program, 264. 

value of, 259. 
Courtesy, professional, lack of, 235, 
Cultural education, 79. 

Daily program, aim of, 260, 

difficulty of, 270. 
Demands in American education, 

16. 
Demands for physical education, 

63. 
Desks, 111. 

Deoxidation in pupils, 131. 
Disease, bacteria, 102. 

contagious, 146. 
Discipline and government, 149. 
Dismissal of students, 226. 
Dogmatic education, separation 

of, 93. 
Duty of parents, 83. 

Education, aim of, 20, 39, 41, 42. 

as an art, 19. 

by contact, 52. 

broad and narrow, 14. 

definition of, 13, 14. 

limit of, 48. 

U. S. Commissioner of, 126. 
Education and environment, 15. 
Education and history, 26, 27. 
Education and pedagogy, 26. 
Education and psj'chology, 25. 
Education, psychological aspect 
of, 24. 

phj'siological aspect of, 24. 
Educational opportunity, sources 
of, 49. 



394* 



Index 



Educational spirit, method of 

arousing, 242. 
Ego and alter, the, 210. 
England, national ideals of, 53. 
Esthetic education, aim of, 71. 
Esthetic education, opportunity 

for, 72. 
Exercises, opening, value of, 225. 

Facts, questions for, 290. 

Factors of education, 81. 

Fatigue agents, 265. 

Fire drills, 109. 

Fiske, L. R., 289. 

Fitch, J. F., 279. 

Form and content subjects, 265. 

France, national ideals of, 54. 

Franchise, elective, use of, 362. 

Games, indoor, 381. 

outdoor, 381. 
German, courses of study in, 256. 

national ideals, 53. 
Gilbert, definition of education, by, 

13. 
Giving of marks, dissatisfaction 

from, 213. 
Government and discipline, 149. 
Glass surface for lighting, 119. 
Gymnastics for girls, 64, 65. 
Gymnastics, value of in school, 59, 

60, 62. 
Gulick, on play, 371. 

Haberle, punishments by, 175, 187. 
Habits, kinds of, 342, 345. 
Hamilton, definition of education 

by, 13. 
Hauser on education, 40. 
Heart training, 273. 
Helvetius on education, 40. 
Henry, George, on education, 40. 
Herbart on education, 254, 257. 
Heredity, 192. 
Hensinger desk, the, 113. 
Hobbes, laws of association bv, 

339. 
Home education, 83. 
Home visiting, value of, 239. 
Honor, lo%'e of, 221. 

standards of, 219, 220. 
Hume, laws of association by, 339. 

Illiteracy, 77. 



Imagination, kinds of, 323. 

stimuli for, 338. 

subjects appropriate for, 338. 
Imitation, stage of, 88. 
Immunities, the granting of, 207, 
Individual limitations of, 48, 49. 
Industrial schools, 65. 
Inertia of mind, 43. 
Intellectual education, 55. 
Interest, kinds of, 323. 
Instruction, definition of, 23. 

i 
James, William, definition of edu- 
cation by, 13. 

on education, 336, 345, 347. 
Jews, national ideals of, 54. 
Johnson, Governor John A., on 
play, 371. 



Kasper, on education, 40. 
Keeping of grades, value of, 288. 

objection to, 230. 
Kerr, definition of education by, 

13. 
Knowledge, desire for, 217. 

sources of, 17. 
Kotelman, on education, 144. 

Laboulaye, definition of education 

by, 13. 
Lamarck, law of use, by, 64, 367. 
Lesson, assignment of, 279. 
Light, direction of, 119. 
Locke, John, on education, 38. 
Luther, courses of study by, 252. 

doctrine of education, 35. 
Luxfer prism, lighting by, 119. 

Manual training, 66. 
Massachusetts, laws of, 114. 
McMurray, Prof. Frank, on edu- 
cation, 289. 
Mechanism in schoolroom, 133. 
Memory, device of, 335. 

kinds of, 333. 

methods for testing, 334. 

laws of, 335. 

loss of, 331. 
Methods in education, 21, 24. 
Middle Ages, papal supremacy in, 

350. 
Mills, James, definition of educa- 
tion, by, 13. 



Index 



395 



Mills, J. S., definition of educa- 
tion by, 13. 
Milton, John, on education, 253. 
Mind and body, 25. 
Monitors, selection of, 137. 
Monitorships, rights to, 206. 
Moral education, need of, 69, 70. 
Moral education, 55. 

National Education Association, 

work of, 126. 
Neighborhood meetings, value of, 

244. 

Page, D. P., on education, 279. 
Patriotism, definition of, 362. 
Pedagogy, definition of, 26. 
Periods, length of, 269. 
Physical education, 58. 
Physiological education, 56. 
Play, supervision of, 375. 
Playgrounds, purpose, 379. 
Playing games, kinds of, 380. 
Playing room, 105. 
Plato, definition of education by, 
13. 

on education, 17. 
Politeness, 359. 
Practical education, 78. 
Prejudice, 46. 
Primitive man, 352. 
Professional organization, 238. 
Professional training, 277. 
Psychology, aim of, 25. 

knowledge of, essential, 26. 

physiological, 57. 
Prizes, the giving of, 203. 
Punishments, definition of, 187. 

justification, 157, 183. 

methods of inflicting, 174. 

purpose of, 177. 

value of, 183. 

Rauber, on education, 40. 
Recess, time and value of, 262, 

145. 
Recitation, accessories of, 313. 

aims of, 312. 

steps of, 315. 

questions of, 296. 
Reciprocal cooperation, 85, 91. 
Religious education, aim of, 73. 
Relative fatigue value of subjects, 
267. 



Repetition in education, 17. 

Restricted mind and body, 43. 

Reviews, justification of, 310. 

Rewards, purpose of, 201. 

Riis, Jacob, on play, 369. 

Room, temperature of, 116. 

Rosenkranz, definition of educa- 
tion by, 178. 

Rousseau, theory of punishments 
by, 178. 

Routine duties, 223. 

Ruedigcr, definition of education 
by, 13. 

Science in education, 20. 

School aims, 87. 

School buildings, 107. 

School day, length of, 261. 

School grounds, 102. 

School hour, length of, 261. 

School year, length of, 260. 

Scolding, 189. 

Scope of work, 90. 

Scudder, definition of education 
by, 13. 

Seating, reasons for, 139. 

Seifey on patriotism, 365. 

Self-activity, inhibition of, 134. 

Self-esteem', 210. 

Sex association in school, 355. 

Simon, definition of education by, 
13. 

Smith, Adam, on education, 40. 

Social education, 98. 

Social evolution, historical evi- 
dence of, 92. 

Socrates on education, 279. 
on method, 227, 299. 

Special development, 60. 

Spencer, Herbert, courses of study 
by, 254, 257. 
theory of punishments by, 178. 

State education, 50, 52, 96, 97 

Sturm, on education, 253. 

Successful education, 22. 

Sun as a disinfectant, 107. 

Sunday schools, attendance on, 
356. 

Superstition, 45. 

Supervision, aids to, 130. 

Sympathy, 142. 

Teacher, preparation of, 272. 
appointment of, 164. 



396 



Index 



Teacher, unpreparedness of, 163. 

value to community, 245, 

vocabularies of, 283. 
Teaching, definition of, 23. 
Terms, use of, 22. 
Theory and practise in education, 

17. 
Time and energy, conservation of, 

126. 
Thought, question for, 290, 298. 
Toilets, problem of, 123. 
Tradition, 44. 
Training, definition of, 23. 



Unruly pupil, the, 140. 

Vocational education, 67, 68. 

Ward, Leslie, on education, 38, 41. 
Whewell, definition of education 

by, 13. 
Woodward, definition of education 

by, 13. 

Xavier, Father, on education, 40. 



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